High School Scandal
by AutumnHatersUnite
Summary: What is your MC really thinking? Is she as innocent and "Mary Sue"-ish as she seems? Find out as we see how this high school story *actually* started.
1. Prologue

**_Prologue_**

"Hello? Is anyone here?" I called out, walking around the land I (well, technically my parents' credit card) had brought. The land was to be used for a new school, after I had been subsequently expelled from St. Mondrian's School for Girls in London, St. Aubergine's School for Young Women in Austria, Geneva Academy in Switzerland, and the Malibu School of the Fine Arts near Los Angeles.

I had attended the best schools internationally while my parents traveled from place to place, father in the name of business and mother in the name of spa days. I was an only child and they didn't want the hassle of dealing with my education, so they shipped me off to the best academic institutions money could buy.

I didn't care much for the mandatory church services and stuffy school uniforms St. Mondrian's and St. Aubergine's insisted I wear, so I did _some thing_s to facilitate their desire to have me leave. The bitchy math teacher at Geneva caught me skiving class to go shopping with my friends one too many times, and at MSFA I interrupted the headmaster's lecture on lame school rules with one of my signature pranks.

My parents didn't care, of course. In fact, Father said to me "Here. Start your own school. Since it's _your_ own, you can't possibly be expelled _this _time," and handed me a variety of forms, checks, credit cards, and methods of financial support for my new school.

And with that, I got to work. I purchased land in an empty lot that was large enough to formulate a school befitting to my needs, got some pushovers with college degrees (people who wanted desperately to get in with my father and his company, and would do anything I said) to be the principal and teachers, and designed the buildings with the help of an expert architectural team.

The construction of my school was rather genius, if I do say so myself. I had only four large two-story classrooms (designed to look like graduation caps), and the majority of the buildings were "hangouts", places where the students could just chill. I had made jock hangouts for the athletes who would win sporting events and basically trump over all the rival schools. I had also constructed nerd hangouts for the people that had the smarts and GPAs necessary to make my school top-notch in academics (hey, I might be a troublemaker, but for the most part I actually get pretty good grades). And lastly, I had formed prep hangouts, for people like me, who loved all the classy things in life. In fact, the center prep hangout was designated as my private hangout, for me and my friends alone. It even had its own key, and no one, not even the principal and teachers, could enter without my permission. (Yes, it sounds extremely unlikely, but when you have money, you can basically get away with anything).

My thoughts were interrupted when I saw a girl with squinty light brown eyes and light brown hair in a side braid wearing a red tank top with a white long-sleeved, paint-splattered men's shirt over it, paint-splattered light-wash jeans, and the rattiest sneakers I had ever seen. An oval ivory-colored locket was around her neck, and her right wrist sported a tacky black bangle bracelet.

She spoke. "Hey! I'm Autumn. I heard this school was opening today, so I stopped by to check it out!" She looked around my newly constructed school. "This place isn't much to look at yet, but you can make this the best school ever!" She put her hands on her hips and grinned.

_Excuse me? I worked hard on the construction and design for my school all summer!_

Autumn prattled on. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you! I go to Hearst High. It's right over there." She gestured to a set of large concrete buildings that resembled your typical American public school nearby.

"So you're trespassing…" I commented.

Autumn's faced drooped. "What? No! I was just hanging around here… where I'm not supposed to be… all alone… Okay, so maybe I was technically trespassing, but I wasn't looking for trouble. Are we going to have to fight over turf now or something? Because I left my nunchucks in my other purse… And honestly, I'd really rather be friends." She smiled. I could tell that no matter what I did, I'd be stuck with her for life. She was just like my ex-"friend" Candy from St. Aubergine's, who clung on to me like I was her life support even when I got fed up and screamed at her for a moment to myself.

"Heh. I'm not really used to people being so _friendly_." I remarked. Some people were just too clingy for their own good.

Autumn didn't detect the undertone in my voice (honestly, few people really can. Even Mother and Father can't tell). She chirped on. "That's me! Super friendly."

"So you're super friendly, and you hang out in empty lots?" I snickered. Obviously, if she was as friendly as she thought she was, she wouldn't be alone like this.

"Actually, I come here pretty often," Autumn replied. "The people at Hearst can be… well, they can be jerks. I've been wanting to transfer to this school ever since I heard it was opening!" _Oh dear_, I thought. I was destined to be doomed from the start.

"But Hearst High is the most prestigious school in the area… and my dad won't let me transfer." Autumn pouted.

_Yay! _I smiled to myself. _But I doubt Hearst is more prestigious than Athena Academy_. Yet again, Autumn interrupted me from my reverie.

"That's why I'm so excited you're here!" she squealed. "Since the school is just opening, it's really up to the people here to improve it. You can make this school even better than Hearst High… and then my dad will let me transfer for sure!" _Ugh, I hope that's not the case._

"Awesome! This isn't going to be much of a school if I'm the only student." I muttered sarcastically as a jock guy left the Admissions Office.

I was interrupted from my thoughts yet again when Autumn squealed like a wounded hyena as she ran to a classroom. "This school's first classroom! So exciting! Let me get a picture of you next to it! That way we can look back on this day and remember it was the start of something big. Now smile!"

She spoke so quickly, I couldn't even get a word in as Autumn started attacking the camera. As soon as I could, I casually excused myself and escaped to the sanctity of a second-floor classroom. But luck wasn't with me today, as Autumn was right on my heels.

"Look at you, hitting the books already!" she exclaimed.

"I'm not _all_ party _all _the time," I sniffed. It was hopeless to get away from Autumn, so I went downstairs and headed to the Admissions Office. Maybe if I pretended to act busy with official school matters, she would hop off.

My hypothesis proved incorrect when Autumn saw a nerd guy and a prep girl leaving the Admissions Office.

"What did I tell you? This school has so much potential!" Autumn proclaimed. She whirled around and picked up a handful of pamphlets from a desk in the Admissions Office.

"Now let's see if anyone else here wants to improve themselves…," she muttered, tapping her chin. She threw a pamphlet in the nerd guy's face.

"Thanks! I'm feeling smarter already!" he said sarcastically. I could tell that he was offended by Autumn's insinuation that he needed to improve himself.

Autumn didn't stop there.

"Ooh! What cute decorations!" she bleated. "Let's take some pictures!" She gestured to the nerd guy, prep girl, and me. "Everyone squeeze in!"

She started to take a picture. And another one. And another one. And yet another one. After a long while, I put my hand out.

"Okay… that's… wow. 200 photos of us posing in front of the decorations," I raised my eyebrows.

"I might've gotten carried away." Autumn said.

_Understatement of the century._

Autumn's annoyances were put on the back burner when my iPhone chirped with a new message.

"Huh… I just got a text from some girl named Kara. She's demanding I meet her out in the parking lot…" I announced to my friends.

Autumn's face darkened. "That must be Kara Sinclair. She's the head cheerleader at Hearst. She's not someone you want to mess with."

I laughed. "Oh Autumn, you have a lot to learn if you think some lame cheerleader with a hidden inferiority complex intimidates me." I knew that whoever this Kara bitch was, she must consider me a threat if she felt the need to go to all the trouble of finding out my number and demanding a confrontation. So pathetic. If it was me, I'd pretend to make nice with my enemies and destroy them from the inside. I guess simpletons like her never truly grasped the essence of Machiavellian-esque queen bee politics. She had her power just handed to her. She never had to work hard to get it and maintain it in the first place like I had. But that would lead to her downfall, a fact I knew only too well.

"How does she even know your number?" the prep girl inquired.

"Oh, she's an expert in rumors and blackmail. I'm sure it was easy for her to find it. You shouldn't meet her alone…" Autumn replied. _Haha, oh Autumn, you have no idea who the _real _expert in rumors and blackmail is._

"Who said I'm going alone?" I smirked. If the bitch wanted a confrontation, she would get one. But first, time for a touch-up. I went to the center prep hangout… and _Autumn_, unsurprisingly, followed me. I realized that she was really obsessed with me for whatever reason, and that shaking her off wouldn't do anything. _It's time to try a new tactic_, I realized.

I unlocked the hangout and went to the bathroom on the second floor. I had it custom-made in various tones of pink and it was notably nicer than all the other bathrooms on campus (but granted, they _were_ pretty nice themselves).

"Whoa!" Autumn cried. "This is so nice! And large." She gestured to the marble sinks and bathtub, shower, and the six powder room stalls (three were actually dressing rooms).

"Like it?" I took my Clinique makeup bag out of my oversized Longchamp tote and blotted my face, reapplied a few coats of DiorShow mascara, spread some Burt's Bees lip balm across my lips, and ran my Mason Pearson brush through my hair. There. Sweet and "natural", not too overdone. Only an über-girly girl would be able to tell.

"I love it!" Autumn beamed. She sat on the edge of the marble tub, bouncing up and down, jiggling her left foot.

"All this could be yours… if you do a few favors for me," I smiled sweetly. If Autumn was going to be an annoying thorn in my side, I might as well get something out of it.

"What favors?" Autumn asked.

"I want copies of all the Hearst High yearbooks from 2000 onwards," I ordered.

"I'll do it," Autumn squeaked. "But why?"

"Don't worry about it," I smiled. Gathering up intel was one of my secret specialties, one that no one knew about. "It's for a little charity project."

I inspected my outfit, a white Theory dress with white Tory Burch flats and my grandmother's pearl necklace at my neck. Hair, check. Makeup, check. Outfit, check. I always made sure I was absolutely and wholly flawless before facing the world. That way, my enemies wouldn't be able to have anything on me. Next, I cued up Facebook on my phone and did a search for Kara Sinclair. I laughed out loud when I saw her face. She applied makeup like a clueless twelve-year-old… it was caked on her face like bees on honey, and it did not look "natural" at all. _Weakness found. _I quit the app, put my iPhone in my tote, and opened the bathroom door.

"Let's go," I told Autumn.

And with that, we left to confront Kara "Cake-Up" Sinclair.


	2. The Showdown

"Ready for this?" I asked my new friends, who had all transferred to my school today.

"Oh yeah. Let's see if this Kara girl is as tough as she thinks she is," the jock guy declared.

"She might have her boyfriend Max with her. His dad's the principal at Hearst High!" Autumn squeaked.

"Don't worry, Autumn. We have this under control." I snickered. We headed to the parking lot, where a girl in a swamp green and yellow cheerleading uniform sat, anxiously checking every three seconds to see if anyone was coming or not. I checked her shoes. White, average nondescript cheerleading sneakers. Next to her was a guy whom I assumed to be Max. He had short, cropped blond hair and wore a yellow and swamp green varsity jacket, his mouth curled up in a smirk. His shoes were swamp green and yellow athletic sneakers. As we approached them, he spoke.

"So, Loser High got its first loser." Max sneered.

"And look, Little Miss Quirkface is already over here. I always knew Autumn was a dork, but I never thought she was a traitor…" Kara added. _Quirkface? That's a new one_, I couldn't help thinking.

"Hey, back off! What do you have against our school, anyway?" the nerd guy spoke up.

"There's a plan for this land, and it doesn't involve your crappy school!" Max puffed out his chest.

_Tactic one: the guilt-trip card._

"I don't know who you two think you are, but you can't just go around bullying people…" I made my face sweet and sorrowful. That way, when Max and Kara lashed out, they would look even worse than they already did. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the nerd, jock, and prep start to become even more enraged towards Kara and Max.

Then Cake-Up, I mean Kara, got in my face. "And what are you gonna do about it?" she demanded.

I pretended to consider my options.

"Well, I definitely can't hit you," I began. "With all that caked-on makeup, it's like you're wearing face armor." I smirked and my friends behind me began to laugh.

"That's so true!" the prep girl chortled.

"Excuse me?" Kara screeched.

I put on a face of mock pity. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you intentionally going for the trashy clown look? If so, you still kind of overdid it on the eyeliner." My friends laughed even harder.

"This is so not funny. I'm not going to forget this." Kara threatened. Before I could sling another barb, Max interrupted.

"Enjoy your crappy school while you can, loser. Because it's _not_ going to be around long."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I laughed. Did Max and Kara seriously think that their pedantic threats were intimidating?

Max took on an air of authority. "All new schools need at least fifteen students to stay open. And with Hearst High right next door… well, you've got a lot to compete with." He puffed out his chest yet again.

"Come on, Kara. Let's ditch these losers." And with that, he and Kara left.

"Now you can see why I don't really like being at Hearst High…" Autumn said quietly.

Then, my iPhone beeped with a reminder.

"Oh, shit! I have that interview with the local news right now!" My eyes widened. With all the drama that Cake-Up and her wannabe-stud boyfriend had caused, I had forgotten about the interview that I had promised to give the local news station. The story was a win-win situation for both of us. I gave them a story in a town that continually had slow news days, and they gave me publicity for my new school.

"Let's sprint and get back to school!" the jock guy exclaimed.

"Let's just walk there quickly," the prep girl interrupted him. "No need in getting sweaty for the local news."

"You have a good point there," I conceded. "We'll just walk there quickly."

We walked there briskly and entered the Admissions Office, where a reporter and cameraperson were waiting for me.

"There you are!" the reporter exclaimed. "It's the girl of the hour."

After having a mic placed on me and the camera adjusted to the correct angle, we began filming.

"It's not every day that a teen heiress suddenly starts her own school. What was your primary motivation for choosing to do so?" the reporter inquired.

'_Cause I refuse to follow the rules. Especially when they're stupid and petty. So I decided to make my own school, with my own rules so I can have my complete and total autonomy. _But that's not what the cameras—and the world—wants to hear. What could I say instead? Then I looked at Autumn, and inspiration struck. Maybe that clingy, annoying girl would be useful for something after all.

"Autumn, come here," I cooed. As Autumn came over, I draped my arm around her.

"It was for a very dear friend," I began, widening my eyes and placing my free hand over my heart. "Autumn here has been bullied so much at her school, and she didn't feel welcome there. Seeing all the pain she was in, my heart just gave out—" here I beguiled choking back a sob—"and I vowed to do something to help her. I told her, 'Oh, I see, all right. And I don't think anyone else should have to put up with bullies like them.' And I decided that I'm going to make this the best high school this town has ever seen, and I'm going to open it up to anyone who wants to come here. For everyone who feels bullied… ignored… or just plain lost… this will be the place for them." By the time I had finished speaking, the reporter's, cameraperson's, and my classmates' eyes all glistened with tears. The rest of the interview went smoothly as I spun my answers to produce the results I desired. After the news crew and my classmates left, Autumn and I were alone in the office.

"Oh, I wish I could transfer here…" Autumn lamented.

"Just give it time, Autumn. I know we'll be able to convince your dad." I smiled trickily.

"Yeah, well, right now, I need to get back to Hearst. I'll see you later." Autumn ran off.

Autumn wanted to be in my school? Well, she'd better be careful about what she wished for. If she got in, I'd make sure she'd regret it. After I got my revenge on Cake-Up and her boyfriend, of course.


	3. Footbrawl, Part One

The next day, I was sitting at a picnic table, surrounded by a flurry of preps, jocks, and nerds who each had their own ideas about how to improve the school. Next to me, a prep girl hurriedly took notes on her smartphone as I either nodded or said "No way in Hermès."

Of course, everything was interrupted as a certain pair of footsteps ran from my school's entrance to the picnic table I was sitting at.

"Hey!" Autumn chirped as she approached the center of the table where I was. Autumn then put her hands down on the wooden tabletop with a loud _plunk_. "I know we need to get more students to keep this place open…" Her eyes looked up in nervous anticipation as a red flush crept over her cheeks. Suddenly, I knew what was going on. Little Miss Peppy wanted me to recruit her crush!

"… and I thought of someone that we might be able to recruit!" I knew it. Some people were just too easy to figure out.

Autumn droned on. "His name's Julian, and he's a star football player at Hearst High," she said dreamily. I bit my lip to prevent a snicker from escaping. Did this loser seriously think she had a chance?

"But, well, he's been having some problems there." Despite what her words were saying, Autumn seemed to be _happy _about his problems. Her brown eyes gleamed as her lips quirked up in a small smile. Of course, she would be happy—if she transferred to my school and her crush was there too, she would be on cloud nine. But if she honestly thinks she's going to get her way, she doesn't know me at all.

"I'll go get him, but in the meantime, keep recruiting for your school!" Autumn ordered. "We're going to need _a lot _more people, and it'll help us impress Julian," she said as she walked off. _More like, it'll help _you _impress Julian_, I thought as my classmates stared at her, offended that she thought they weren't enough.


	4. Footbrawl, Part Two

A short while later, Autumn arrived with a muscled guy with spiky black hair and tan skin wearing a swamp-green and orange Hearst High football uniform in tow.

"Hey. Autumn said you're recruiting people," the guy, who I assumed to be Julian, said.

I started to reply, but then Autumn but in.

"Julian's a big football star at Hearst High," Autumn cooed, trying to make her squinty brown eyes big in a failed attempt at flirting. "But he's been having some problems there. You remember Max? Max joined the team a few weeks ago, and the principal insists that he gets to play Julian's position!" Finally, Autumn stopped to catch her breath.

"That's terrible," I commented.

Julian's face contorted into an expression of rage as he put his hand on his hips. "Look. I didn't sign up for a share circle where we talk about our feelings. This is _my _problem. No one else's."

Autumn's face turned red as she quickly realized she was losing Julian. "I just think it's unfair!" she cried. "And you don't have to be treated that way! You can join the school!" she chirped.

Julian calmed down as he looked at me. "Well, here's the big question: how's your football team?"

"We… uh… don't exactly have a football team right now. We're just starting out," I explained, as collected as Autumn was frantic.

Julian's lips drooped in a frown. "No team? Then this was a waste of time. Autumn, you don't know me very well, but I'm a football guy. What would I do here? At least at Hearst I get _some _time on the field."

I kept my face neutral as I smirked inwardly. Looks like Autumn's plan to recruit her crush wasn't working out. But… perhaps it _would_ be in my best interest to keep her crush here.

"We could start a football program here," I began, widening my eyes at Julian.

Julian smiled. "Oh yeah? You know a lot about football?"

"I might," I cooed, fluttering my Lancôme Définicils-mascaraed-lashes at him. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Autumn's face turning pale. This was simply TFFW.

Julian grinned again. "But you're going to start a team? Well, here's something basic. Think you got anyone here who can go long?" A jock guy volunteered. He wound up and prepared to throw a football. I refrained from saying that I wished it would hit Autumn in the face.

"Ready?" Julian asked.

"So ready!" the jock guy replied.

"Then go!" Julian replied.

Julian paused for a moment as the jock guy ran, and then he threw the football in a perfect spiral.

"Nice catch…" Julian commented.

The jock guy slid to a halt, colliding with a classroom!

Julian frowned. "That last part _could_ use some work. Sorry, guys. You don't even have enough room around here to throw a ball! I'm not crazy about Hearst, but at least they've got a field. Anyway, I've got to head back. There's a big game today, and there's even going to be a college scout there."

He looked around and smiled. "Hey, Autumn, you coming?"

Autumn looked like she was about to vomit. "Uh, I wasn't planning on it… I mean, I'm not really into football…" Her beady eyes then narrowed at me and quickly looked away. "Well, I could make an exception. I mean, maybe I could take some photos there."

"Yeah? That would be cool. I mean, if you want to. No big deal." He smiled and left.

"Sounds like he's out," I remarked.

"I think we still have a shot at recruiting Julian." Autumn insisted. "But he's right about not having enough space around here…" Her nose wrinkled as she glared at the conglomerate of nerd, prep, and jock hangouts that I (and a team of architectural specialists) had designed.

_Excuse me? _I resisted the urge to slap her across the face. What a bitch.

Autumn prattled on. "I guess we better buy tickets to that football game so we can watch Julian. I mean, cheer for Julian. I mean—"

I interrupted her. "I think I get what you mean," I snapped.

"I'm just trying to show that this new school will be enthusiastic about sports! We have to go. For the good of your school!" Autumn commanded. _More like for your own selfish reasons, so you can check out your crush_, I scowled to myself.

People were always trying to get me to add new features to the school, pay for things, or sacrifice things for them, and they always, always used the excuse "for the good of your school" just because I was the one who had founded it. I was sick and tired of being used. The preps had already demanded an on-campus latte shop and clothing store. The nerds wanted a state-of-the-art robotics club. The jocks wanted a larger swimming pool. I could do all that, but did they really have to demand from me that frequently?

I shook myself out of my thoughts. I had to concentrate on the problem at hand.


	5. Footbrawl, Part Three

Autumn and I walked to the Hearst High football field. The entire walk over, Autumn rambled on about how many guys liked her, and how she was good at everything she did. I'm not even exaggerating. Literally, that was all she talked about.

"And did I mention, I'm also pretty good at fencing and playing soccer?" Autumn went on and on. _The one thing you'll never be good at is having a sense of fashion, _I thought to myself. Autumn had talked the entire time, and I hadn't even gotten a word in. Not that I particularly wanted to.

Finally, we reached the football field and I searched for Julian. He was grumbling and pacing in front of a bench. The coach glared at him.

"Come on! Put me in!" Julian raged.

"What's going on? Why isn't the coach letting him play?" I asked as I ran a finger over my Bulgari pendant.

Autumn put her hands on her hips and glared at the coach. "My guess? The coach wants the spotlight on Max. No chance of that if Julian is playing."

"That doesn't look good," I observed. The tension in the air was as palpable as a Louis Vuitton knockoff bag. And with guys involved, fists were going to start flying. I pulled out my iPhone and sent out a text.

Autumn loudly munched on a bag of buttery popcorn. "Want some?" she asked me, her mouth still full. _Ew. _I turned away.

"Sorry, I don't eat carbs," I snickered. "But it's not like you would know." I eyed her thighs pointedly.

Autumn's face turned red as she "accidentally" threw her bag of popcorn down three rows of bleachers. It hit a pair of middle-school-aged twin girls, who turned around and glared, searching for the perpetrator. When Autumn wasn't looking, I made eye contact with the twins and pointed at her. They nodded in thanks, mischievous smiles creeping across their faces.

Down on the field, the opposing team's (which was the Twin Branches Squirrels) coach called a timeout. As Max ran back to the bench, he shouldered past Julian.

"Aw, is someone sad he's not gonna get to play? Maybe if you cry, Coach will put you in." Max smirked.

"That's it!" Julian roared as he charged at Max.

Autumn gasped. "We've got to stop this!"

"One step ahead of ya," I smirked as the jock guy I had texted before arrived, just in time.

"I'll handle this," he assured me.

"Good luck. And be careful!" Autumn looked like she was going to pee her pants. What a baby.

"Okay, break it up! That's enough!" the jock guy announced, diving in between Max and Julian, shoving both of them back.

Max glared at him. "No one asked you to get involved! Who do you think you are?"

"Let's just say I'm a concerned citizen," the jock guy glared back at Max.

Max ignored him, choosing to now glare at Julian. "You just cost us fifteen yards," he glowered.

The Hearst High coach looked absolutely furious. "Hit the showers!" he yelled at Julian.

Max grinned. "Aww, looks like someone just got thrown out of the game. Gotta watch that temper, buddy."

"I…" Julian scowled.

I gathered up my pink Valentino Rockstud bag and traipsed down, not really caring if Autumn was following me or not.

I looked at Max.

"Aww, looks like someone can't be a football star without their daddy's help," I said in a saccharine voice.

It took Max a full minute to process the insult due to my sugary tone. Before he could respond, I nudged Julian gently with my hand. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

I didn't bother looking back, but I knew that he was glaring at the back of my Frédéric Fekkai blowout as I strode away, knowing that I had won this time.


	6. Footbrawl, Part Four

Back at my school, we all reconvened at a picnic table. Autumn, to my dismay, had followed us.

"Julian, how could you do that?" Autumn whined.

"Okay, maybe I shouldn't have gone after him," Julian acknowledged, "but that was not cool! Coach doesn't play me for the whole game, and then Max wants to laugh in my face about it?"

"That doesn't mean you can just attack him," Autumn lectured.

Julian's face crumpled in defeat as he conceded. "…you're right. I was out of control. Thanks for stepping in," he nodded to the jock guy.

"No problem," he replied. "I'm glad I could help. That was intense."

"Yeah. After that, Coach isn't going to give me another chance, not with Max calling the shots." Julian looked down as his phone buzzed. His eyes narrowed as he read the text. "Great. The principal called my dad and told him everything. He's ballistic."

Julian looked at me pleadingly. "I can't go home. Not right now. Do you have somewhere around here I can hang out and clear my head?"

I gestured to the new on-campus power smoothie stand that the jocks had demanded me to get since the preps had their own latte shop.

"Thanks," Julian replied.

Autumn continued to whine. "That was really scary, Julian. You know, you can't always punch all your problems away."

Julian's face drooped in a frown. "You don't get it…"

Autumn blushed. "I'd like to. I know you're a tough guy, and you like to be all gruff and brooding and muscular…" _Someone's been reading way too many Harlequin romance novels_, I snickered to myself.

Julian interrupted her. "You think I'm muscular?" He grinned.

Autumn became flustered. "I… um… my point is, I'm worried about you. What happened out there?"

"Look, I'm not some nerd who can make a million dollars on a computer, I'm not artistic the way you are… I know what I'm good at, and it's football. That's the one thing I've got going for me. My only shot at getting into college is a football scholarship. And to get one, I need to impress a scout," Julian began.

Then his face curled up in anger. "Today could have changed everything for me. And Coach didn't even give me a chance to play! I just couldn't take it."

Autumn sniffed. "I get it. You lost your temper. I don't think it was right," she added condescendingly, "but I get it."

"Hey, you're welcome to stay. Permanently." I gave him a pointed look.

"Yeah!" Autumn agreed, a little too eagerly. "Enroll at her school!"

"Hey, like I said, I'm a football guy. What am I going to do here if I'm not playing football? I need to be on a team that scouts will consider." Julian stated.

I flipped my hair. "You'll be starting the team. We've already got the people here who are ready to play. Let them show you what they can do," I guided.

"Oh yeah? I'll give you a shot. Let's go." His eyes met mine and Autumn glowered. Silly girl. I didn't even like him like that, but seeing the look on her face was just priceless.


	7. Footbrawl, Part Five

At the trial football game I had set up to show Julian that our players were top-notch, some jock guys warmed up as they threw a football back and forth.

"Let's do this!" a jock guy shouted to his friend.

"I'm ready!" his friend hollered back.

"I like the attitude. But I need to see if you guys are all talk." Julian sprinted up to the jock guys as they started the game.

"Go! Catch that ball!"

"Got it!"

For a few minutes, Julian and the jocks played a quick game as they threw the football back and forth. I knew my players would win, as I had a tendency to pick only the best for my school. Since I already was aware of that, I pulled out my iPhone and scrolled through the 400 e-mails flooding my inbox as I waited for them to finish. Next to me, Autumn watched Julian with bated breath as he ran across the grassy field. I bit my lip, trying to hold a snicker in at how obvious she was acting.

A few minutes later, the pickup game came to a stop.

"Not bad! I have to admit, I'm impressed. You three managed to keep up with me." Julian smiled at the jocks. "Good hustle… and quick thinking. Especially you, you could be quarterback material," he nodded to a jock guy.

"Heh. Thanks." the jock guy replied, hiding a smirk. What Julian didn't know was that he had been the quarterback at the now defunct Spartan Academy a few towns over. Like I would recruit less than the best.

Julian continued his sports talk. "Now, this school's still got a long way to go. A handful of jocks running a few football plays is a long way from a football team that can bring home a win. You've still got to work on your stamina and speed. Not to mention the footwork."

Then his eyes shifted to me. "But you know what I see in this group? Teamwork. That's something Hearst High forgot a long time ago. Together, we can get this school a winning team. And we'll take down Hearst High." He smiled and pumped his fist in the air. The jocks cheered and exchanged high-fives.

I flipped my hair, which I had just set in a glossy side ponytail. "Is that your way of saying you're enrolling here?"

Julian blushed. "I'd be honored to enjoy your school."

Next to me, Autumn dug her grubby fingernails into the side of her worn Spring Floral dress. I could see the anger flashing in her brown eyes. And I knew exactly why—Julian's eyes were on someone else and not her. Well, that's what she got for trying to recruit her crush to_ my_ school for _her _own selfish reasons. And things were only going to get worse for Autumn Brooks, if I had anything to do with it.


	8. The First Party, Part One

After Julian came out of the Admissions Office, he walked over to Autumn and I. The whole time he was filling out paperwork, Autumn had talked my ear off about how she was super talented at many sports and everything she did. I wanted to scream at her to shut the fuck up, but that would be "rude", even though Autumn was rude herself.

"Hey, I've been doing some thinking. I know we need to get more people for the school to stay open. How about throwing a party?" Julian asked.

Before I could reply, Autumn butted in. "Good idea! If we throw a party, we'll meet new people, and we can recruit them! There's a lot that goes into planning a party… but I might know someone who can help. Let me see if she's willing to lend us a hand." And with that, Autumn strode off towards the exit. Unfortunately, I could tell that she would be back.

* * *

The next day, Autumn came up to me with another girl in tow. She had light brown wavy hair, set back by an Anna Sui barrette and wore a light purple Ella Moss dress cinched with a small silver Betsey Johnson belt. I looked at her shoes: Ouch Ouch Pretty Feet platform sandals. What was a girl like this doing, hanging out with Autumn?

Autumn spoke. "Hey. This is Payton. She goes to Hearst High with me."

Payton looked at me and grinned. "So, I heard you want to throw a party. I owe Autumn a favor, so she talked me into helping you with the basics. Have you thought about what kind of theme you wanna go with for your party?"

I was curious as to _why _Payton owed Autumn a favor, but decided to interrogate her later. I flicked the pink crown charm on my Juicy Couture charm bracelet, thinking for a second. I looked up and smiled at Payton.

"Hmm, how about a masquerade ball?"

Before Payton could reply, Autumn butted in again. "Ooo, that sounds nice!" Autumn shrieked, her squinty brown eyes darting wildly from me to Payton to Julian. "It'll be nice to go to a classy party for once…" Autumn sneered, her nostrils flaring up.

_Like _you_ would even know what's classy_, I thought to myself.

"Yeah, yeah! Hot girls love classy things! It's brilliant!" Julian agreed, grinning.

Autumn's face drooped in defeat. "That's… not what I was going for…" she whined.

"I love a good masquerade! It'll be so fancy! We can definitely work with this." Payton gushed.

"So what's the next step?" I asked, trying to shift the focus of the conversation from Autumn's whining to the party we were throwing.

Payton's eyes lit up in joy. I could totally tell that parties were her favorite topic. "A good party needs good decorations. Just like how cakes need frosting, outfits need accessories, and ceilings need disco balls!"

"Ugh, decorating?" Julian pouted. "Come on. Do I look like the type to get all color-coordination over a party?"

"Was that even a sentence?" Autumn hissed, her squinty brown eyes staring daggers at Julian.

"Look, Payton's right," I spoke up. "But we can do better than a disco ball."

"_Two_ disco balls?" Payton squealed.

I smiled mysteriously as I gestured for two prep girls sitting at a picnic table to follow me. "You'll see."


	9. The First Party, Part Two

A few hours later, the new building that I had designed and constructed last week, which I dubbed "Party Central", for all the events I would throw at school (since having them in the school gym or cafeteria was _so_ not going to happen) had been decorated to look like a Venetian ballroom with the help of the prep clique.

"All right, Payton. We've got balloons, a gigantic punch bowl, and a box of stylish masks. That work for you?" I smirked to myself, knowing full well that the quality of the items exceeded everyone's expectations.

"Yeah, I think we're all set! This is perfect!" Payton chirped.

"Uh, hello? We're not done yet! We still need to get the streamers hung up… and we really need some colored lighting if we're going to get the mood just right!" Julian announced, gesturing at the lights.

"Wow, Julian really got into all of the decorating…" Autumn commented snidely.

Julian's face turned red. "What? No! I… shut up!"

"Aw, it's okay, Julian! You're just getting in touch with your soft, delicate side! Maybe later we can bake cookies shaped like baby animals!" Autumn mocked him, seeing his discomfort.

"Grrr! I'm never decorating again!" Julian exclaimed, his face still flushed with embarrassment. Then a thought came to him. "For real though, are you making cookies?"

"What do you think, Autumn?" Payton asked, gesturing to the decorated Party Central building.

Autumn appeared to be distracted by the screen of her phone as the corners of her lips drooped down in an unflattering pout. Ugh, what was she going to whine about_ this_ time?

Autumn looked up. "What? Oh, it's… uh… it's nice. Things look nice," Autumn replied as she went back to pouting at her phone's screen. I rolled my eyes. She insisted on tagging along when no one wanted her here, and now she wasn't even paying attention? What a whiner baby!

"Ahem!" Payton cut in. "Now you'll need to set up an Event page on Facebook for the party. And not just any page. It's got to be funny, cool, _and _appeal to everyone on campus!"

Payton took out her laptop and showed me a Facebook Event page. "Shirtless guys in party hats is usually a good place to start," she winked, "but let's see what you can come up with."

"Hey, guys, where did Autumn go?" Julian inquired.

"Huh, I don't know… I guess she was acting a little weird earlier," I commented offhandedly. I was already _done_ with this topic.

"Hey, you have Facebook open?" Julian asked, reaching for Payton's laptop. "Let me check something… oh crap! Today's Autumn's birthday! And she must think we totally forgot!"

"Maybe that's because we did?" Payton replied.

"Oh, this is really bad… her dad's out of town. I bet he didn't even call her today." Julian speculated. _Hmm, could Autumn have daddy issues?_ I mused to myself.

"That's got to be why she was checking her phone earlier." I bit my lip to stop myself from smirking at Autumn's misfortune. I couldn't help it, she was just so goddamn annoying!

"She's probably all alone. It's not like anyone at Hearst is gonna celebrate with her!" Julian cried.

"Awww! That's terrible! And really, really true. Most of the people there hate her." Payton replied. _I can see why_, I thought.

"We gotta do something for Autumn!" Julian exclaimed. "I know we're busy, but a birthday's only one day, man… and it would mean a lot to her if we did. What do you say?"

I had enough on my plate what with planning my school's first ever party and now I had to drop everything for some girl I didn't even like? No way.

"Julian, you didn't know?" I began.

"Know what?" Julian asked.

"Autumn's father has a special surprise planned for her birthday. It's a _personal_ family event," I looked at him innocently. "She didn't tell you?"

I watched as Julian's face changed from determination to despair. I knew what he was thinking. How could Autumn have omitted that detail from him? Was it because they weren't close enough as friends?

"Don't worry about it," I placed my manicured hand on his shoulder, my Juicy Couture charm bracelet sparkling under the ceiling lights of the Party Central building. "Come and help us plan for the party."


	10. The First Party, Part Three

"Ready to make an Event page for the party?" Payton asked the nerd guy and prep girl I had recruited to do so.

"Are you kidding? I was born ready!" the prep girl squealed, fiddling with her Cartier bracelets.

"I've come up with an algorithm for the page design that'll maximize user traffic. We should be able to reach optimum views in our target market!" the nerd guy enthused.

The prep girl gave him a weird look. "Yeah… I say we just use a picture of hot people dancing."

A half hour later, Payton and I returned, lattes in hand, to inspect their work.

"This event page looks great! And look! Fifty people already 'Liked' it!" Payton exclaimed.

"Of course they did! I optimize keywords like nobody's business!" the nerd guy bragged.

"I'm thinking it had more to do with that picture of hot people dancing…" Payton commented, taking a sip of her peppermint latte.

The prep girl nodded. "That's what I said!"

"Are we good then?" I asked.

"We're one building short of the perfect party! Come on, y'all! Let's get this party started!" Payton hollered.

"Wooo! Yeah! Let's do this!" Julian pumped his fist in the air. "I'm ready to get my masquerade on!"

* * *

_**After the party**_

After the last of the stragglers had left, Payton, two prep girls, and I sat, sipping our post-party lattes while the maid service cleaned up Party Central.

"That's what I call a successful party," Payton grinned.

"Seriously," I nodded. The best part was, I had "forgotten" to invite Autumn, so for the whole night, I didn't have to deal with her. Ah, bliss.

"Fancy gowns and pretty masks… this is the life I was meant to live. And I think everyone else liked it, too!" Payton gushed.

"Good times, good times," Julian said, walking over to us. "And hey... did you hear? A cheerleader decided to join our school!"

"You guys did great! And this school is a lot cooler than I thought it'd be. I was worried it'd be all emo kids lurking in a vacant lot," Payton commented.

"Well… we do have several vacant lots," a prep girl admitted. I gave her a look. She choked on her latte, spitting coffee all over her Kate Spade clutch as the other prep girl rushed to get her napkins. Stupid minions.

"But those are just full of potential!" Payton exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, if we don't get fifteen students soon, potential's the only thing this place will have!" Julian muttered.

Payton's eyes widened. "Oh! I just remembered something important! I need to get back to Hearst High!" She ran off.

Mystified, I stared after her. "I wonder what that was about…"

"Eh, Payton's always running around like that," Julian replied. "Right now, we need to focus on recruiting more people… and partying's a great way to do that!"

I nodded. "It'll take time to enroll all the students we need to keep the school open, but we're really making progress."

"Yeah, you've come a long way from just you and Autumn standing in an empty lot. I mean, take a look at everything you've done." Julian looked at me. "Everything this school is… it's because of you." Julian started to lean in closer to me. But at that moment, his phone buzzed. I sighed in relief. There was no point in doing anything unless Autumn was watching, I snickered to myself.

"Hey, I just got a text from Autumn. She said something's going down at Hearst High, and Payton could use some backup." Julian announced.

"We do owe her one. Let's go see what's up," I replied, glad that moment was over.


	11. The Party Girl, Part One

"Autumn! What's going on here?" Julian asked as we entered Hearst High.

"It's a total disaster. All this time Payton was helping us out, she totally forgot she was supposed to be throwing a party for Mia!" Autumn gasped, spit frothing at the corners of her mouth as she blabbered on.

"Who's Mia?" I interrupted Autumn before she could go on any further.

"Max's little sister," Autumn replied.

"What happened?"

Autumn's eyes darkened. "…come see for yourself."

* * *

Autumn led us to a hallway... where Payton was cornered by Kara and a thin girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, whom I assumed to be Mia.

"You promised you'd bring snacks and decorations to my party, and then you pulled a total no-show!" Mia glared at Payton, her hands on her hips.

"I'm so so so sorry... I was helping Autumn and her new friend..." Payton trembled. Her eyes were downcast, and a frown marred her normally sunny demeanor.

"_What_?! You were over at that new school?!" Mia gasped.

"That's just insulting, Payton." Kara glared. "We're not going to forget this. We're going to make your life _miserable_!" Her lips quirked up into a cruel smile. "No one's going to come to your parties. No one's going to talk to you at lunch. You're going to be a total social outcast!"

"I... I…" Payton quavered.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here. Cake-Up and Barbie Junior in their natural habitat." I strode up to them, my Giuseppe Zanotti heels click-clacking behind me. "Leave her alone. Can't you see she feels bad enough about it?"

"Who asked you, dork?" Kara snapped.

I opened my Guerlain compact and practically shoved it in Kara's face. "Please. Don't even talk to me or touch an eyeliner pencil until I can differentiate between a raccoon's face and your eyes." I snapped it shut. "Come on, Payton. You don't need to take this. Let's go back to my school."

* * *

Back at school, Payton, Julian, and I reconvened at the latte shop I had bought for the preps. Autumn, much to my chagrin, had tagged along yet again.

"I really messed up this time. Kara meant what she said. She's going to make my life at Hearst High miserable!" Payton exclaimed.

"And unfortunately, Kara has enough influence over everyone to actually pull it off." Autumn added, sucking on her latte straw noisily. I mentally cringed at the annoying sound she made.

"Hey, why don't you get out of there? Come transfer to my school!" I suggested, gesturing at the wide expanse of the prep hangout as if to say _this could all be yours_.

"You still want me at your school? But... I'm not popular anymore." Payton frowned.

"This is a place where_ everyone_ is welcome. You don't need to be popular to fit in here!" I replied, quoting straight from the interview I gave to the press, complete with a camera-ready beatific smile. Of course, I didn't give a shit about Hearst's popularity standards, because the people setting them were obviously lower than me. Only _my _standards mattered. And everyone _was _welcome… except for losers like Autumn.

"Really? You mean it?" Payton responded.

"Absolutely! Come join our school!"

"Aww, you're so sweet! I'll start enrolling right now!" And with that, we left to the Admissions Office. I could just tell she would be one of my best friends...


	12. The Party Girl, Part Two

The next day, Payton approached me at the bench I usually sat at each morning as I sipped my morning latte.

"Hey." Payton said, her voice not full of the usual excitement I had come to expect from her.

"What's wrong?" I queried.

"It's... it's my boyfriend. I guess I mean my _ex_-boyfriend. He just broke up with me. In a _text _message. He said I was a traitor to Hearst, and he didn't want to take the hit to his popularity!"

"What a jerk," I empathized.

"I know. He's selfish, arrogant, and cruel... I should _hate_ him. But... I still feel so sad! I'm _miserable_! My heart is _broken_!" Payton wailed.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"There's only one cure. I need a date." Payton proclaimed.

"A date?" I raised a plucked-by-Anastasia eyebrow.

"A date! A fling! A rebound! Come on, don't tell me no one dates around here…" Payton looked horrified at the idea.

"Follow me," I smirked. I led Payton to my school's classy "make-out spot", which was dubbed the "Tunnel of Love" by the preps.

"OMG! I love it! A swan boat? That's my favorite kind of boat! And a tunnel of love? That's my favorite kind of tunnel!" Payton squealed. "And now, I'm ready for a date! I've been single for _way_ too long."

"Didn't your ex _just_ break up with you?" I raised an eyebrow yet again. This girl was just too much, but at the same time, I felt protective of her. She had a sincerity my minions… didn't.

"Yes. The longest I've ever gone is fourteen minutes. Now, excuse me... I've got a date to go on." Payton grinned, her fingers furiously darting over her smartphone's touchscreen as she texted her date.

* * *

"OMG! I forgot how much _fun_ dating is. Good dates, bad dates, blind dates... all better than no dates!" Payton enthused. We were at the latte shop, reconvening after her date.

"You certainly seem to have bounced back from your broken heart," Autumn sneered. Why was she always showing up at my school? She doesn't even go here!

"Duh, it's called a rebound for a reason," Payton responded. "I've practically forgotten about what's-his-name!"

"You know, now that Payton is feeling better... it's time to celebrate!" Autumn ordered, rubbing her hands together like a maniac.

"Oh?" I asked.

"We've got to throw a party for her to welcome her to the school!" Autumn crossed her arms, looking at me expectantly.

"Omigosh! You'd do that? For me?" Payton squealed.

"Heh. Of course," I replied. I'd throw parties for my friends anytime, but the way Autumn demanded it was just so rude.

"You guuuuys! You're so sweet!" Payton beamed.

* * *

"What a great party!" Payton squealed.

"Yeah, it was truly epic!" a prep girl agreed.

"It was _a-mazing_! Everyone had fun and the decorations were great and the music was perfect and everything! It was the Best. Party. _Ever_!" Payton gushed.

"Do you say that about every party?" I commented wryly.

"Only the best ones!" Payton smiled. "Thank you guys for all making me feel so welcome. Here, I got us some peppermint spice lattes! Kind of a post-party Payton tradition. Usually I just drink them alone in my room at home. It's kind of dumb."

"I love it. Give me one." Autumn ordered, snatching a latte out of Payton's hand.

"Okay, I propose a toast. To Payton! Cheers!" I raised my cup, smiling at my new friend, trying to offset Autumn's rudeness.

But Payton's eyes were elsewhere.

"Uh oh... looks like someone followed me here today." Payton went pale.

"Kara and Mia? Why are they coming over here with a whole cheerleading squad?" another prep girl asked.

"Kara's the head cheerleader... she never goes into a showdown without backup," Payton informed her.

Kara strode up to Payton. "Ahem. Payton, I see you're still making dumb choices. Joining the enemy? Not a smart move."

"I... um..." Payton stuttered.

"Are these girls bothering you, Payton?" I stood up, looking Kara right in her raccoon eyes. I tried not to laugh at her sloppy makeup job and focus on the task at hand.

"Huh? What do you care?" Kara asked, averting her gaze from me and choosing to glare at Payton instead. I could tell she was still embarrassed about my eyeliner comment from earlier.

"We don't need any trouble here at_ our_ school," a prep girl glared.

"Yeah!" Julian seconded.

"Oh really?" Kara inquired, trying to think up an insult.

"Look, Kara, I get that you don't like Payton," I began, using my signature "sweet-as-honey" voice, "but you can't come over here and yell at her like some psycho cheerleader."

"You can't talk to me like that!" Kara snapped, when she finally realized the insult behind my seemingly saccharine voice.

"You don't get to make the rules around here, PC. You're outnumbered. You can't just come to our school and pick on Payton."

"And that means it's time for you to leave, Kara. You're not welcome here." Julian announced.

"Whatever," Kara retorted, turning to leave. I could see her eyebrows furrow as she tried to decipher what "PC" stood for.

"Before we go, I've got a message from Max," Mia spoke up. "We're challenging your school to a football game. Think of it as your school's first Homecoming game... if you think you can pull it off."

"So we'll see you on the field... unless you're scared." At Mia's backing up, Kara seemed to find her voice again. "Mia, girls... let's get out of here. Payton, have fun here in Loserville." Kara slapped Payton's hand, which made her spill her latte all over her Rodarte dress.

"Hey!" Payton exclaimed.

Kara and the cheerleaders from Hearst High snickered and began to walk off.

"Looks like you're living up to your namesake, PC," I called out as the two prep girls behind me helped Payton dry off. "Sorry about your outfit," I frowned.

"It's okay. I really appreciate you all sticking up for me," Payton responded.

"What about Max's challenge?" I asked my classmates.

"I'm on it. I can get a team together," Julian declared.

"Homecoming is going to take more than just a football team... we'll need to have a dance. And a halftime show!" Payton added. "I know they expect us to fail, and they're just trying to humiliate us, but if we can pull it off, this is going to be fun!"

"Oh, what's going to be fun is the look of defeat on their faces," I smirked.

"Yeah!" Julian pumped his fist in the air.


	13. Homecoming, Part One

After school Julian and I went over to the library to go over Homecoming plans. I knew Autumn would be barging in, since she did that every day despite the fact that she went to another school and no one wanted her here, so I had planned accordingly.

When Autumn saw me and her little crush sitting in a private study carrel, her squinty brown eyes narrowed. She marched right over to Julian and slammed her unmanicured hands down on the desk.

"Hey! I've got some good news!" Autumn tried to stick her A-cups out as she batted her eyes wildly. The girl clearly had no idea how to flirt.

"What's up?" Julian asked, looking confused. Did Autumn have something in her eye?

"I talked to my dad..." Autumn began. "I told him about how your school's growing every day, and how you actually have solid academics here..."

"And?" Julian inquired.

"And how you're having a Homecoming game against Hearst High..." Autumn proceeded to delay getting to the point, as usual. I knew she wanted her conversation with Julian to last as long as possible.

"Yeah, and?" Julian queried again.

Autumn finally got to the point. "And he wants to come check out the school!"

"That's great news!" I muttered sarcastically, blinding Autumn with my Crest-whitestripped fake smile. Autumn must really be #1 on Hearst High's Most Hated List if she was that desperate to transfer to my school.

Julian grinned. "That's awesome!" Then he backtracked. "That's... I mean, that's cool. Uh. High-five." He held his hand out.

Autumn slapped it excitedly. "Haha. I'm _sooo _excited. I can't wait to get out of Hearst High," she sniffed. Didn't she _just _tell me Hearst High was one of the most prestigious schools in the area?

"So when is your dad coming?" I asked.

"Actually... he'll be here for the game," Autumn replied. "He's a big football guy, and I kind of get the vibe he's going to judge you based on how it goes..."

"Well, I guess we better win, then." I snickered.

"We'll bring home a victory for you, Autumn." Julian gazed at her. Did he seriously like her back?

"Heh. I'll see you guys later," Autumn smirked. "Good luck getting ready for Homecoming!" And with a waggle of her fingers at Julian, she left.


	14. Homecoming, Part Two

"I've tried everything... posters with glitter, posters with bows, even posters within posters! It's very meta." Payton and I were sitting at the table in front of the center prep hangout, sipping our lattes and discussing Homecoming prep.

"What do you think the problem is?" I asked, inspecting my manicure in Chanel's May.

"If there's one thing I know about dances, it's that no one wants to go alone... even the creepy goth kids! If you want this Homecoming to be a success, we've got to get more people coupled up around here!" Payton exclaimed.

Our conversation was cut short when Julian ran up to us. "Hey! There's something weird going on. I got a text from a blocked number... with a warning that someone was going to be recording our practice today to steal our plays! If Hearst High pulls that off, we're going to be in a lot of trouble. Can you keep an eye out while I run plays?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Sure, I guess." Did Hearst have a traitor in their midst?

* * *

"Hey! Up there! In the sky! What is that?" I looked up as the cheerleader girl next to me pointed up at a medium-sized black object that appeared to be flying.

"Huh? Where?" Julian inquired.

I realized what it was. "There's a quadrocopter with a video camera!" My father's company had sold his own line of quadrocopters once.

"Is that, like, a dinosaur?" Julian asked. "When did they learn how to use cameras? I thought they _just_ learned how to open doors!"

"It's a remote-controlled helicopter thing," I replied, "…and it's taping your plays!"

"Get me something to throw at it!" Julian exclaimed.

Quickly, I tossed Julian a football.

He caught the football, spun around, and hurled it right at the quadrocopter. It hit it dead-on, and the quadrocopter crashed to the ground... where _Max_ picked it up.

"Good throw, Julian." Max smirked and puffed his chest out. "Too bad I already got all the footage I need!" He sounded just like a smug elementary schooler who had snitched on his classmates and got them in trouble.

"Give me that copter!" Julian roared. He grabbed the device and slammed it down, shattering the quadrocopter into a thousand tiny pieces.

"Still the same old Julian, huh?" Max snickered. "Never met a problem you didn't want to punch. Don't worry, that camera has been streaming everything straight to our football team back at Hearst High."

Julian glared at Max as he strode off.

"At least we stopped him from recording any more of it…" I muttered.

"Yeah... thanks for the help. I just wish I knew who sent me that text..." Julian mused. "Anyway, we're going to have to focus on our plays. Rewriting the playbook isn't going to be easy... Can you help me get some people together? And not just football guys, all right? We're going to need someone who likes working with charts and diagrams."

* * *

"Okay, so about this playbook..." Julian began.

"Wait a sec, I don't get what's going on here," the jock guy interrupted. "You really want to work with a nerd on our team's playbook? She doesn't exactly know much about football..."

"Even if I did, he wouldn't listen." The nerd girl snapped.

"He will listen if I have anything to say about it," Julian ordered. "You're both going to help each other."

Autumn butted in. "Come on, everyone! We're like a mosaic without coherence or unity, expressing nothing but artistic dissonance!" She flailed her arms wildly as the jock guy and nerd girl exchanged a _WTF?_ look.

Julian continued. "Hearst High has one of the best football teams in the state. If we want to even have a _chance_ of beating them on the field, we have to pull together."

"That's what I just said..." Autumn snapped. The nerd girl and jock guy stared at her. What was she even doing here? She didn't go to this school.

"I guess we need to give this plan a chance." The jock guy conceded.

"Agreed." The nerd girl nodded.

* * *

A while later, I went to check on them.

"There! The playbook is done! You know, I have to say, there's some pretty smart stuff in here." The jock guy nodded down at the thick notebook, stuffed with plays that hopefully would beat our rival school.

"It's a masterpiece! Poetry! A perfect blend of physics and psychology set down in football plays!" The nerd girl enthused.

"Heh. You know, I agree. With this playbook, we'll be unstoppable! Just get me on the field. I can't wait to face Hearst and smash Max's face in!" Julian roared.

"You mean smash his face in... with football victories?" I snickered.

"Yeah, that too." Julian nodded.


	15. Homecoming, Part Three

Just then, Payton came up to me. "Hey! I'm so glad I found you! I've got a float emergency! A floatmergency!"

"Is that like... a bad cough?" I queried. The preps and cheerleaders giggled.

"With the money I raised selling tickets to the Homecoming Dance, I'm planning a halftime show and float parade! The cheerleaders are working on a routine, and I'm making a bunch of floats! But I need more people to ride on them. I want our parade to be representative of a broader group! Can you help me recruit some people?" Payton seemed to be hopped up on energy. Too many peppermint spice lattes, I guessed.

"So, what's the game plan?" I asked, after I had returned with a bunch of people.

"I've made some floats, and now we're going to do a test run around the football field!" Payton squealed.

"The floats look really nice, Payton!" I gushed. "Are those real flowers?"

"I used fresh roses and peonies to spell out 'Go Team' on this float... and over here, this float is covered entirely in glitter! Now, let's get this practice parade started!"

But before anyone could move, something crashed through the float!

"Whoa! What was that?" My heart felt like it had dropped to the ground. Whatever it was had almost hit us.

"It's... it's a football." Payton replied. Her eyes narrowed. "Julian's team kicked their stupid ball right through my float!"

"Can it be fixed?" I asked anxiously.

"It took forever to make that Enchanted Forest of Teamwork. It's going to cost us to repair it. I just don't have any funds left..." Payton frowned.

Julian ran to us. "Hey! Can we get our ball back?"

"Ugh! Go dig for it! It's buried in the roses for the 'Enchanted Forest'!" Payton glared at him.

"Are you serious? We don't have time for this." Julian shook his head at her in disbelief. "What are you doing on _our_ field, anyway?"

"We _were_ practicing for Homecoming." Payton crossed her arms and glared at him.

"What are you _talking _about? Practicing for Homecoming is what _we_ were trying to do!" Julian retorted.

"I'm talking about practicing for the pre-parade," Payton hissed.

"Come on, that's not as important as practicing for the game," Julian insisted. "Because of you, my players are distracted, _and_ we're going to lose valuable practice time digging around in some enchanted hedges to find our ball!"

"Because of you, I'm going to have to spend hours fixing this float! You totally ruined the 'Enchanted Forest'!" Payton pointed at the wrecked float.

"Um, should we get off the float now?" a cheerleader girl interrupted, awkwardly standing in the float's detritus.

"Just forget about this whole stupid parade!" Payton cried. "If the football players don't even appreciate it, what's the point?" And with that, Payton stormed off.

"Well, we can forget about practice if these floats are in the way." Julian then stormed off in the opposite direction.

_This looks like trouble_, I thought. If Homecoming's going to be a success, I have to get these two talking again... and that means getting Payton some money and Julian some space to practice.


	16. Homecoming, Part Four

"Hey, Payton. You know how you said you needed some cash to fix your float?" I asked.

"Yeah?" Payton replied.

"...well, I've got it. Here." I handed her a golden money clip stuffed with bills.

Payton's eyes widened at what I had just handed her. "Are you_ serious_?!" she exclaimed. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're the best!"

"I know, right?" I smirked. "So... I know you and Julian don't always see eye to eye..." I began, "but if we're going to make Homecoming awesome, you two need to get along. Julian _is_ the captain of the football team, and the Homecoming game _is _a really big part of Homecoming."

"I guess you're right," Payton conceded. "Well, if he's ready to talk... I guess I am too." I nodded and then turned on my Manolo Blahniks to where Julian was located.

"Hey, Julian. I think I solved your space problem," I announced. Thank Gucci the school's construction company was willing to add a new plot of land on such short notice. I suspected it had something to do with my last name, of course.

"Yeah?" Julian replied.

"There's a new plot of land for your guys to practice on when Payton is using the field." I gestured to the plot, where some jocks had already started doing warm-up drills.

"I still don't see why that prep gets to use the field when _my _team needs to be practicing 'round the clock," Julian grumbled.

"Ease up on Payton. She's trying to plan a float parade, _and _she's getting ready for the dance." I widened my eyes at him. "I know football is a big part of Homecoming, but the things that Payton is doing are important, too," I emphasized. "Without them, Homecoming's just another game."

"Okay, okay! Enough with the guilt trip," Julian replied, looking bashful. "If she wants to talk... I'm ready."

* * *

"Look, Prep, I'm not proud of how I acted," Julian began.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, too," Payton admitted. "I know how hard your team is working to get ready for the game. You guys are under a lot of pressure! I wanted all of the Homecoming activities to build the team up and help morale! Not hurt it."

"I get that, now. Sorry I didn't see it earlier." Julian apologized.

"Well, it's not too late," I stated. "What do you say? Ready to finally start working together?" I raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at them.

"Yes!" Payton exclaimed.

"I'm in," Julian declared.

"Here's your football. I found it in the 'Enchanted Forest' while I was fixing it..." Payton handed it to Julian.

"Sweet," Julian replied. "And, uh, I brought you these." He handed Payton a bunch of flowers and vines. "I thought it could help you fix your magic forest."

"Julian! That's so sweet!" Payton gushed. She hugged Julian. Quickly, I surreptitiously snapped a photo. _This will come in handy for later,_ I mused.

"Hey, no big deal," Julian shrugged.

"So... I was thinking... it would be great to get the football team more involved in the Homecoming activities... if they have time, that is." Payton mused.

"I think we can squeeze it in. What did you have in mind?" Julian answered.

And with that, I left. Time for me to make sure everything else was going according to plan…


	17. Homecoming, Part Five

_ This is it. Time for the game… _I thought. In the center of the field, the cheerleaders, clad in uniforms that I had commissioned Stella McCartney to design (she had a contract with me to design all the athletic uniforms for my school) did an elaborate routine with flips and cartwheels while our school's mascots, a girl and guy tiger, fired T-shirt cannons at the audience from both sides of the field. I was interrupted from my appraisal of the scene when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Could you help me out?" Julian asked. "The players are waiting in the locker room and... I've never been good at speeches..." He looked down bashfully at his sneakers.

I smirked. "You want _me_ to give the pep talk to the football team before the game?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "You're good with words. And you've been at this school from the very start. Everyone here looks up to you." He unconsciously brushed a strand of hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear. As he was saying this, I felt someone staring at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Autumn seething in our direction. I bit back a smirk.

"I'll... I'll do my best." I looked up at Julian through my Le Volume De Chanel mascaraed-lashes. I took his arm and we walked towards the locker room. I swore I felt Autumn's eyes staring daggers at my back, even though I didn't bother looking back at her. Well, she should have known what she got herself into when she asked me to recruit her crush…

* * *

"Hey! Everyone! Listen up!" Julian ordered once we had arrived in the locker room.

As soon as I stopped and stood in front of the whole team, the locker room instantly quieted down. All eyes were on me, and this was what I was used to.

"Tonight, we're standing on the edge of greatness," I began. "_When_ we beat Hearst High we'll be making a statement. We're playing for our school. Think of this game as an epic battle. We're going out there tonight to do battle, and we're going to win."

"Hoorah!" Julian cheered.

"Now, get out there and just remember... go, fight, _win_!"

"Go, fight, win!" the jocks all cheered.

"Now, let's see Hearst High _try_ to stop us." I snickered.


	18. Homecoming, Part Six

"Let's see what you've got," Max hissed as we entered the field.

"It's on." Julian retorted, a look of determination in his eyes.

* * *

"Ohmigosh! Time's almost up, and we're down by four!" Payton cried.

"It's okay." Autumn looked at Payton like she was freaking out over nothing. "We've got one last shot to score a touchdown." She was sitting with her school, but on her way back from buying food, she had stopped to bug us. "If we make it, we'll win." Autumn then noisily unwrapped the hot dog she had purchased at the stands.

"Shit!" she squealed as the hot dog slipped out of her grasp and ketchup, relish, and onions spilled on her paint-covered jeans. I pinched the side of my arm, hard, to stop myself from laughing. Her jeans were already covered with paint anyway so it wasn't like her outfit was ruined. Actually, it improved the trainwreck she considered to be an outfit. Everyone laughed as she walked away, red-faced, back to Hearst's side of the audience.

"Okay, team. This is it. Everything comes down to this last play. Get into position..." Julian announced to our team.

The teams lined up, facing off for the final play.

"You're not getting past us," Max glared, puffing his chest out.

"Shut up and play," Julian replied. I laughed.

Julian threw the ball... and another jock guy caught it, just ten yards away from the end zone.

"I got it! I got it!" he blurted.

"Now run!" another teammate hollered.

"Oh, right!" he replied.

"Not so fast," Max hissed. He tackled the jock guy as he passed it to another one of our teammates.

"Oof!"

"Whoa!"

"Go, go, go!" Julian yelled.

We watched as the teammate who had received the ball sprinted to the end zone.

"Yes!"

"That's the game! We did it!" The field erupted in cheers.

"This isn't happening," Max scowled, kicking a trashcan. "This is _not happening_!" His face looked so red, it resembled a stop sign.

"Believe it, Max. We just won!" Julian retorted.

"That game was incredible." I announced, smiling flirtatiously at Julian. Autumn glared at me.

"Yeah! I finally get why Julian's always so worried about practicing. Football is hard!" Payton contributed.

"Heh. Well, it's no cake walk. But what you did wasn't easy, either. Those floats were pro," Julian admitted.

"Thanks!" Payton smiled.

"Hey! There's the big football star!" Autumn interrupted, pushing Payton and I to the sides. "I might have been sitting with the Hearst High fans, but I was cheering for you!"

"Oh." Julian nodded, tearing his gaze away from me. "Yeah?"

"Yeah, people started throwing things at me and telling me to shut up..." _Why am I not surprised? _ "…but I was just so excited! You were awesome out there!" Autumn batted her squinty eyes at Julian. At this point, Julian probably thought Autumn had an eye infection since she seemed to always have something in her eye.

"Heh. No big deal!" Julian gave her a fist pump, the type that guys gave to their "bros".

"Don't be so modest. It was epic." I flipped my hair, leaning closer to Julian so he'd catch a whiff of my Escada perfume.

"Yeah. You guys did an a-ma-zing job! Now it's time to celebrate!" Payton declared. "Autumn, this Homecoming dance has a no-Hearst-High policy, but I think we can make an exception for you."

_Ugh_, I thought. _Can't she just go to Hearst High's homecoming, with all the other losers?_

"Aw! Let's go to the dance!" Autumn squealed like a wounded hyena, grabbing Payton's and Julian's arms in a vise-like grip.


	19. Homecoming, Part Seven

_**At the Homecoming Dance…**_

"Julian! Payton! This is such an awesome party! The two of you make a great team!" a cheerleader girl gushed to my friends.

"Yeah, we do!" Payton replied. "Go Team Pulian! Team Jayton? Hmm, neither of those sounds right..."

"Heh, well, while you work it out, I actually got you something. I remember you always liked it after a celebration..." Julian commented.

"Let me guess... you got her a peppermint latte." I remarked.

"Yep! One hot, tasty, peppermint latte, extra whipped cream!" Julian, grinning, handed her the latte.

"Yay! You remembered!" Payton beamed at him.

As he handed Payton the latte, their hands touched for a second.

"You know, Julian... you're a pretty okay guy..." Payton murmured.

"You're not bad yourself, Prep," Julian replied.

Suddenly, Autumn burst in, running in between Julian and Payton and using her hands to push them apart. "Guys! I've got great news! My dad thought your Homecoming was great!" she screeched.

"So does that mean...?" Julian asked.

"It means exactly what you think it means! He's going to let me transfer!" Autumn started jumping up and down like a toddler whose parents had brought them a new toy. I rolled my eyes at her idiocy.

"Sweet!" Julian exclaimed before hugging Autumn. Over his shoulder, Autumn glared at Payton and held on even tighter to Julian. Payton frowned. I could tell that she was confused at Autumn's behavior. Why was Autumn acting like this to her?

It was pretty obvious to me, but Payton couldn't tell.

"I, uh, mean... congrats." Julian flushed, stepping away from Autumn.

"Hee hee!" Autumn snickered. "Thanks. I'm so happy!" _Of course you are_, I thought. She'd just shoved Payton away from her crush. Payton was much prettier than her, and to Autumn she posed a threat, even though they were just casually flirting and I doubted Julian and Payton would ever date.

"If we weren't _already _at a dance, I'd totally throw you a party!" Payton enthused, trying to fix things with Autumn.

"I'm going to go start enrolling right now!" Autumn cried.

"Right. The Admissions Office is totally open right now," I remarked. It was nine p.m. and we were at a school dance. Could this girl be any denser?

"Just... one last thing. I've seen the jocks hanging out together and the nerds over in their building... the preps have a place to go, too. Do you have somewhere for artists like me to hang out?" Autumn asked, her hands on her hips. But from the way she was asking, I knew it was a demand and not a request. And _artist_? She was more like a hipster slash art freak with delusions of being an artist.

However, I had recently constructed new artist and musician hangouts for incoming students who were actually artistically and musically talented (unlike Autumn). I guessed she could be in one of those, since my school didn't offer any "Loser" or "Fashion Don't" hangouts.

Autumn Brooks wanted to attend my school more than anything in the world, and it looked like she was getting her wish. But you know what they say: be careful what you wish for. And by the time I was done with her, she'd be begging to move to another state...


	20. Mission Nerdpossible, Part One

"So, what do you think? This is where artsy people like you hang out." Julian extended an arm, gesturing to one of the glass-walled artist hangouts.

"I love it! It's the perfect place to draw inspiration!" Autumn yelled. She reached inside a bag of artificially colored, disgustingly unhealthy Cheez-Its and shoved an entire handful into her mouth, chewing loudly. Quickly, I averted my eyes from the trainwreck that was Autumn Brooks.

"Thanks for showing me around, guys!" Autumn smiled, her eyes greedily devouring the school's campus, taking everything in.

"I'm just glad you're finally enrolling," I lied. I didn't give a rat's ass about Autumn, but I knew the local news was going to drop by the school either today or tomorrow to do a follow-up piece on my school, and for my sake, it'd be best if Autumn was still sucking up to me. But once the news crew left, she'd see my true colors soon enough… and I couldn't wait.

"Me too!" Autumn squealed.

The school day had just started and I was already sick of Autumn. Why couldn't she just stay at Hearst? Max and Kara would treat her much better than I would…

'There's still one thing I want to know about," Julian began. "Where did Max get that quadrodactyl thing he used to spy on us? That thing was seriously high tech."

Before I could reply, Autumn butted in. "I have an idea... but I won't be able to verify it without going back to Hearst High. The guy I'm thinking of always hangs out in the science department."

"I can meet you there, Autumn. We'll check it out together." As much as I hated the brat, I needed to get to the bottom of this myself.

"Uh, no offense, but you're not exactly welcome there..." Autumn hissed. _"No offense", my ass._

"No, I'm not... which is why I'll need to go in undercover." I stated.

"Okay, are you ready to go in undercover?" Autumn glared at me. I could tell that she was pissed that I had come up with a way to join her. Like I would trust her to do it alone. Knowing her, she'd mess everything up in the first three minutes.

"Ready as I'll ever be..." I smirked, ignoring her and checking my makeup.

"That's the spirit! Now, the first step is figuring out your character. What do you want to be your cover?" Autumn placed her hands on her hips, demanding an answer.

I took my time deliberating before answering her.

"A security guard," I decided.

"Hmm… interesting…" Autumn commented wryly, her squinty eyes narrowing.

"It's perfect. No one wants to mess with a security guard. All I have to do is look mean, and everyone'll get out of my way." I snickered, flipping my hair. That already happened every day at school, so it wasn't like it would be difficult.

"It's true!" Autumn squeaked, wiping her cheesy fingers on her paint-splattered jeans. I cringed at her blatant CAF (Crime Against Fashion). "But just in case you get questioned, you'll need to know your character's backstory..."

"Wait, what?" I gave Autumn a confused look. What the hell was she going on about?

"Let's see... maybe you're a troubled ex-Marine braving the streets, determined to bring justice to all wrong-doers…" Autumn started, tapping her fingers annoyingly on her chin.

"Maybe we could just focus on how to look mean..." I rolled my eyes at her nonsense.

"Yeah, yeah..." Autumn conceded, angered that I didn't go along with her backstory BS.


	21. Mission Nerdpossible, Part Two

_**At Hearst High…**_

After putting on a disguise and checking the Hearst High blueprints, I started off on my mission.

I had nearly made my way to the science department when suddenly, a slender blonde in a swamp green and puke orange Hearst High cheerleading uniform blocked my path. Mia Warren, aka Barbie Junior.

I knew she was Max's little sister and Kara's number one lackey, but I hadn't figured out her angle yet. Was she a jealous second-in-command who desired to steal Kara's spot? Or was she a fed-up follower? With cliques like Kara's, most of the girls fit into either of those two categories. Kara was not a benevolent leader, so they must be secretly discontented… at least I was nice to my followers most of the time, unless they betrayed me…

"Hey! You! What do you think you're doing?!" Mia demanded, her hands on her hips.

"I…" I was at a loss for words. Normally I would have bitched her out, but now I was acting. And if I broke character, my cover would be blown.

"You're a security guard, right? You're supposed to make sure no gross guys go anywhere near me! And guess what? I've had two math dorks hit on me already, and it's not even lunch!" Mia complained.

_Tell me about it!_ I thought. Then I mentally slapped myself. What the hell was I doing, commiserating with Barbie Junior? She was the enemy!

"Uh... I don't really think that's part of my job..." I murmured. Couldn't she take a hint and leave?

"Are you kidding me? Do you even know who I am? My dad's the principal. My big brother is the school star. That means you have to do whatever I want!" Mia exclaimed, sounding like a petulant child. _Are you _sure _you're seventeen?_ I thought.

"But... I mean, I..." I would have to play dumb until she got tired of bitching. With any luck, she wouldn't figure out who I was.

"Ugh, you're going to really make this difficult, aren't you? Here, have some money." She reached inside her cheerleading bag and pulled out an Andrew Jackson. "Would a twenty cover it? That's what you make in a week, right?" _Bitch, please. Even if I took bribes, your amount is painfully inadequate. _

I was shaken out of my thoughts as Mia continued. "Say... wait a minute... you look kind of familiar... do I—"

Luckily, she was cut off by a shout down the hall.

"Mia! There you are! Cheerleading practice is starting!" the familiar bitchy voice of Kara barked.

"Ugh, whatever. I hate today..." Mia muttered, storming off.

_Whew, that was a close call, _I thought. I was confused though. Barbie Junior seemed almost… human. Like someone I could see myself hanging out with. Nah, it must have been the chemicals in the science department messing up my head, I decided.

When I arrived at the science classroom, I could see a guy with green eyes and a black Mohawk and a girl with brown eyes and wavy shoulder-length pink hair working on some kind of robot.

"Hmm... it's a start... but if we're going to make the greatest Battlebot ever, we'll need to come up with some anti-grav thrusters..." the guy mused.

"Come on, Nishan, you know we don't have time for that. We need to get back to prepping those cheat sheets for Max and Kara..." the girl replied.

"Hey Nishan! We need to talk." Autumn barked, interrupting them. Nishan excused himself and came over.

"Autumn. Random stranger. How can I help you?" Nishan inquired.

"Nishan, Max recently tried to record our football practice using some kind of advanced helicopter... robot... model... thing." Autumn narrowed her squinty brown eyes at him.

"Ah. That would _probably _be the stealth quadrocopter I built for him," Nishan admitted.

"Nishan! How could you do that?" Autumn screeched. Nishan, the pink-haired girl, and I all covered our ears.

"What? I didn't know he was going to steal anything! I figured he wanted it for, I don't know, a prep rally or a sportsball game! Besides, it's not like I could say no. Max keeps the bullies off me, and I do whatever he wants. That's the deal." Nishan looked down at his sneakers.

"Come on, Nishan, is that really how you see yourself? As someone's lackey? Don't you want to be your own guy, work on your own projects, to just be yourself? You should think about transferring, like I did!" Autumn boomed.

"Oh man, I am really bad at awkward social situations like this," Nishan began nervously. "Is there a polite way I can say no? Or do I just throw a smoke bomb and run? Look, no offense, but Hearst's got the best academic reputation in the state. The way I see it, high school's just one dinky step on the way to college... which is a step on the way to my PhD... which is a step to running a research facility... and from there, it's just a few steps to becoming an ageless, all-powerful cyborg... and that's just a step to—"

"Nishan! Just come by and visit us once," Autumn interrupted, glaring at him. "Keep an open mind. I promise you'll be impressed by all the lack of bullying we have to offer." _Yeah, because everyone will hate _you_, not Nishan_, I thought.

"Fine. I'll stop by to check out your academics," Nishan relented. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work I need to do for Max." And he walked off.

Autumn turned to me. "Come on! Let's go build up our academic program so it can compete with Hearst!" She crossed her arms.

Even though my school was new, it had excellent academics already, and Autumn's insinuation that our school's academics were inferior to Hearst's offended me. What the hell was her problem? She wanted to transfer to my school so badly, but when she did, one of the first things she did was insult our academics. If she had such an issue with it, then she could transfer back to Hearst High for all I cared… actually, that would be ideal for everyone.


	22. Mission Nerdpossible, Part Three

"Well? How's that?" I glared at Autumn, gesturing to my top-notch nerd hangouts and classrooms, which were already equipped with the latest advancements in classroom academia and technology.

"Looking pretty nerdy..." Autumn sniffed, "…and just in time! There's Nishan!"

"Well, well, so this is the new school," Nishan appraised the campus. "From all the talk at Hearst, I was expecting more of a sprawling garbage dump meets post-apocalyptic wasteland... but instead it looks like you've got a state-of-the-art learning facility!" _Obviously, like I'd have less than the best. _"I haven't been this pleasantly surprised since I tried to create synthetic peanut butter. It was totally inedible. Just awful. But it worked amazingly as an industrial sealant! Where was I? Oh yeah! Nice school."

"So... you're impressed?" I queried, giving Autumn a side glare. No improvements were even needed, and if I had done as Autumn had demanded, we would have wasted countless resources.

"I mean, the place is nice and all... but it's no Hearst. I mean, Hearst has connections and snobby faculty and a robotics club!" Nishan exclaimed.

"Hmmm... a robotics club could be a really fun addition to the school! What do you think of that?" Autumn chirped, her hands on her hips as she glanced at me expectantly.

"Well, would you look at this." I lead Nishan and Autumn to a nerd hangout.

"There was something you wanted me to see?" Nishan asked.

"Oh, not much. Just our brand new robotics club." I gestured to where a group of nerds worked on their robots. We already _had_ one, and Autumn was just too dense to tell.

Nishan looked around the room in awe. "Huh... looks like you've got a battle arena... a workshop... and some people already building robots! This is pretty good! Needs more lasers, though... but then again, what doesn't, am I right?" Then he faltered. "Look, I... I couldn't leave Hearst even if I wanted to. I owe Max. He's kept me safe from bullies for years!"

"Nishan, he's exploiting you!" Autumn screeched. "Is this like some kind of advanced stage of Stockholm syndrome?"

Nishan covered his ears at Autumn's shrill, grating tone. "No. Maybe. Look, we've got a symbiotic relationship, like those little fish that cling to sharks. Hmm... that reminds me... I need to go check on my fish tank..."

"Do you realize that in your own metaphor, you're a tiny fish clinging to a _shark_?" Autumn demanded. Her eyes bulged so much, they looked like they were about to pop out, which was a first for a squinty-eyed person like her.

"This is high school, Autumn!" Nishan, sick of Autumn's yelling, finally yelled back. "Open your eyes. Jocks rule the school and pick on nerds. No one cares about your personality until you get to college."

"You're wrong." Autumn stuck her chest out as she harrumphed. "It's not like that here. I'll prove it."

Autumn then marched to Party Central, where a group of nerds were laughing, joking, and dancing. Music reverberated through the room while strobe lights flashed in the center of the dance floor.

"Okay. I'll admit I'm surprised," Nishan conceded as he took in the room. "Do you think if I came here, I'd be able to throw a party? I've always imagined I'd make quite the host. I know a stunning amount of magic tricks..."

"At this school, you can be yourself! And everyone will support you." I quoted straight from my press interview. Whenever I desired for someone to join my school, I found that using the cheesy lines from my interview seemed to win them over. Most of the teenagers in this town truly were lost and lonely, so when someone like me came along promising the world, they'd take it.

"There's just one last thing..." Nishan started.

"Are we going to have to build a rocket?" I joked.

"No," Nishan denied. "Well, yes, later. But right now, I'm worried about the... how do I put this nicely... musclebound, chest-thumping monkeymen."

"You mean... jocks?" I inquired.

"Sure, call them what you want," Nishan replied. " I... I realize now that the way the jocks treated me at Hearst was not okay. But I don't want to go from a frying pan to... well, another frying pan, I guess. I saw that Julian joined your school. That guy was not exactly nice to me back when we were at Hearst together."

"Julian can be a little rough around the edges, but his bullying days are behind him." Autumn said, a dreamy expression on her face.

Nishan was not amused. "Yeah? Prove it."


	23. Mission Nerdpossible, Part Four

"What's Hide-And-Go-Geek doing here?" Julian demanded as Autumn, Nishan, and I walked up to him.

Instead of letting me speak, Autumn butted in. "Ahem... we're actually trying to recruit him to our school... and we need your help! You see, according to Nishan, you haven't exactly been nice to him in the past."

"Yeah, okay. I might've been kind of hard on the guy," Julian admitted. "So what do you want to do to settle the score, little guy? Wanna punch me in the face a couple times? I can take it."

"Given my soft, delicate hands, I think I'll pass on the punching. I suggest a game of wits! You against me on the checkered field of battle. Knights and bishops, kings and rooks! A true game of gentlemen!" Nishan declared.

Julian looked confused. "Are you... hitting on me?" I snickered.

"I'm challenging you to a game of chess!" Nishan responded.

"All right, fine. How do I attack you with my horses?" Julian asked.

"Those are knights, actually, and they move two spaces in one direction and one in another, like so." Nishan explained.

"Of course. 'Cause that's exactly how horses move," Julian muttered sarcastically.

* * *

A half-hour later, I went to check on Nishan and Julian as they were finishing up their game of chess.

"And then I move my wizard here..." Julian stated.

"He's a bishop, but hey, close enough. I move my queen to D5, and that's checkmate." Nishan replied.

"Aw... so you won?" Julian inquired.

"Oh yes, very much so. But you actually held your own very well. I was impressed when you sacrificed your pawn for control of the center." Nishan disclosed.

"You gotta go big or go home," Julian declared.

"I've got to say, you surprised me," Nishan admitted. "I never thought you'd have the patience to just sit there and learn an intellectual game, especially a game with no actual combat. You're all right, Julian."

"Thanks, Dorktopus. You're not bad either," Julian conceded.

Just then, I spotted movement in our school's parking lot.

Nishan glanced in the direction I was looking at. "I don't want to alarm anyone... but I'm pretty sure the Dark Lord of Evil and his Ice Queen are right over there..."

Max pointed to Nishan and beckoned him to come over.

"Is he going to hit me? Because I have a shockingly low pain threshold..." Nishan said nervously.

"Don't worry, Nishan. I'll make sure you have plenty of backup," I replied, pressing _call _on my iPhone.


	24. Mission Nerdpossible, Part Five

"You guys sure you've got my back? Because Max has the strength of a bull with the speed of a cheetah." Nishan queried. "Hmmm... note to self: add 'cheetah-bull' to genetic hybrid list... beetah? Cheebull?"

"Don't worry, Nishan. Max won't try anything with us around," one of the jock guys who I had ordered to act as security for us replied.

"We've got you covered no matter what that cheebull tries," assured the other jock guy.

* * *

"Uh, hey, Max. You wanted to talk to me? With words and preferably not punches?" Nishan asked nervously.

Max contorted his features into an innocent expression. But he couldn't fool me. "Punches? Why would I punch you, Nishan? We just came here to talk! Didn't we, Kara?"

Kara rolled her eyes, speaking in a flat, bored voice. "Yes, Nishan. We came here because we miss you so much. Please don't transfer away. That would be sad. Blah blah."

"This is... not what I expected..." the first jock guy said in surprise.

"Are we still supposed to fight them?" the other jock guy inquired.

Max continued with his bullshit act. "I'm serious, Nishan. I don't know what crazy ideas these losers have put in your head, but you do not want to transfer. You're a valued student at Hearst!"

"Are you just saying that because I build you things? Because I'm your little shark-cleaning fish?" Nishan retorted.

"I don't know what that means, but... is that so bad? I help you, you help me, no one gets hurt... except for these losers here, of course." Max smirked, puffing his chest out.

"Wow, Max, I have to say thanks... but no thanks." Nishan replied.

"What?!" Max exclaimed.

"You know, I always figured I had it pretty good for a nerd... I was being lovingly exploited after all," Nishan began. "But now I realize that things don't have to be that way. People don't have to treat each other like that. Not here. I mean, look at Julian! I spent years terrified of that guy... and the two of us just played a game of chess!"

"Julian played chess?! Did he, like, eat the pieces?" Kara sneered.

"See?" Nishan gestured to Kara. "That's what I'm talking about. That's what I want to get away from. The people here don't just want me for what I can do for them. They want me for _me_. And that's why I'm transferring."

Max's face quickly grew red in indignation as he slowly absorbed Nishan's words. "You just burned your last bridge, Nishan. When my dad's done calling his buddies on the college board, there won't be a single school in the state that'll consider you!" Max threatened, his hands forming into fists as he yelled.

"And what about that little nerd girl you're always staring at, huh? Think she'll still want to build nerdbots with a _traitor_?" Kara hissed, her raccoon eyes narrowing into slits.

Nishan stuttered as his face turned red. "Sakura? She... she..."

"Don't you losers have somewhere else to be?" I remarked. "Kara, I know your heavily made-up face resembles a call girl's, and Max, you have a _lot_ to compensate for—"

"Come on, Kara. Let's get out of here," Max's face flushed in embarrassment as they scowled and left before I could finish insulting them. Too bad.

"I really just did that, didn't I? I'm not imagining it?" Nishan looked down at his hands in awe.

"Nope. You just stood up for yourself. And made the best decision of your life." I smirked, gesturing to my flawless campus.

"I can reach out to Sakura, you know... see if she wants to transfer." Autumn started.

"No, it's... it's okay. She's happy at Hearst. Don't bother her. And don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Nishan insisted.

"In that case... welcome aboard, Nishan." I nodded.

The moment was interrupted as Autumn kept tapping me on my shoulder until I faced her. "Do we have fifteen students yet? If we do, I have kind of a neat idea..."

Whatever her idea was, I knew it wasn't really an idea and more of a demand. If Autumn Brooks didn't get what she wanted, she would cry, whine, and throw a hissy fit, and no one wanted to deal with that. I could only hope that the idea wasn't too horrible…


	25. School Overnight, Part One

"That's fifteen students. Now there's no way they can shut our school down." I declared, looking over my campus.

"We should celebrate!" Autumn butted in. "Have you ever heard of a school overnight?" She looked at me disdainfully, probably assuming I hadn't. "We get all the students together and camp out at the school!" Autumn explained to me, enunciating every word like I was a little kid even though I already knew what it was.

"Sounds fun! Let's do it!" I replied sarcastically.

* * *

Nishan came up to me. "Hey. Autumn just told me that you're having an overnight campout at the school!"

"Wow, word does travel fast..." I muttered. Autumn was always forcing herself and her ideas onto the school. It was like she thought _she _was the one who ran the school.

"If we're going to have a campout, we should really get farther away from the ambient lights of the school and maximize our star-gazing potential. I'll bring my automated telescope!" Nishan enthused.

* * *

_**The night of the campfire…**_

"Hey, looks like everything's all set up!" Autumn came up to me and yelled, spit flying everywhere. _Disgusting. _

"The preps set up all the food..." she snidely remarked, her voice full of undisguised derision for the preps, probably due to her resentment that they were more fashion-forward than she ever would be.

"Nice!" Julian exclaimed. "S'mores, chips, salsa, and cookies... who brought those cupcakes? They look incredible." _And fattening_, I added.

"Hm, you know, I'm not sure who brought those. But we should save them for dessert!" Autumn replied, sticking her chest out as she batted her short eyelashes at Julian.

Autumn then grabbed my arm, pulling me along.

"Ouch!" I cried, extracting my arm from her viselike grip. Her nails were short (and unmanicured), but she had still managed to form little crescent-shaped marks on my right arm.

Autumn ignored my cry of pain. "And over here, the gamers set up a projector and are busy taking down zombies with ninja stars!"

"This. Is. Awesome." A gamer guy gushed. "Nature is the best! There's no way this screen could fit in my house!"

Autumn glared at him. "I think you're kind of missing the point..." she said, her voice overflowing with contempt.

"Hey, Autumn, watch this!" a jock girl yawped as she tossed a burning branch from the fire up in the air and caught it.

"They are _literally _playing with fire." I remarked.

Autumn rolled her squinty eyes. "Ha ha. And over here, a safe distance away from the fire, Nishan has set up some telescopes."

"And that constellation to your right? That's Taurus." Nishan gestured towards a cluster of stars.

"I see it! Fun fact..._ I'm_ a Taurus!" a prep girl vociferated.

"Looks like Nishan made a new friend... well, I'd say your campout is going pretty well so far." I lied.

"It might have been my idea, but I couldn't have done it without you!" Autumn squealed, starting to jump up and down. Quickly, I looked in the opposite direction, praying no one thought I was actually hanging out with this loser.

Luckily, I was saved as Payton approached me. "Hey! There you are. I'm trying to get people gathered around the campfire for some good old _spooooky_ stories. Want to come?"

Before I could answer, Autumn cut in. "I_ love _scary stories! I'm in!" _She wasn't even asking you_, I thought indignantly.


	26. School Overnight, Part Two

Julian sat by the fire with Autumn on one side and Payton on the other. Payton leaned over, resting her head on Julian's shoulder. She was doing it causally, in a friendly way, but from the glare on Autumn's face, I could tell it wasn't what Autumn thought. I bit my lip to hide my smirk. This was just too funny.

"I'll tell the scary story first!" Payton proclaimed, draping her ivory Hermès scarf over her neck. "Once upon a time, there was a girl getting ready for her Prom night. She tried on all of the dresses in every store... pink ones, blue ones, red ones, yellow ones—"

Nishan cut in. "Oh boy."

"And she curled her hair and put on all her makeup and was all ready for her date to arrive. She went to sit by the door... and waited... and waited... and waited... the time came for the dance to start, and her date still wasn't there! She waited another hour, then another, and finally she realized... he wasn't coming!" Payton cried.

Nishan looked disappointed. "What? That's it?"

"Oh wait! There's something about how the Prom was held in an old orphan insane asylum... but I forget how that part goes..." Payton mused.

Autumn rolled her eyes at Payton. "So, who's next?" she barked. Her noxious eyes landed on me. "How about you? Think_ you_ can tell a better scary story?"

"I'll give it my best shot..." I replied.

While Payton was going on and on about prom dresses, I had cogitated a story that, seemingly harmless, would push Autumn's buttons. Then, after she blew up, Julian would be repelled by her, going to talk to another girl. Whether that other girl was myself or Payton, I didn't care. Either way, Autumn's night would be _ruined_.

"Okay, I'm ready to tell my ghost story," I began, watching the orange and yellow flames crackle from the fire pit we were sitting around on, which Autumn had made me purchase for the campfire. "Once, there was a school just like this one... and one dark and cold night, they had a campout just like this one."

"Ooo, spooky." Payton enthused, grabbing a stick with toasted marshmallows that Julian handed to her and taking a bite. Autumn, noticing this, stared daggers at Payton's brunette waves.

I continued with my story. "There was a group of people sitting around a campsite trying to get a fire going. Then a cloud passed over the moon, and it was pitch dark... When the sky cleared, and they could see again, all but three people were dead... torn to pieces by a mysterious assailant! The three left were... a preppy party girl... a nerdy mad scientist tech guy... and a 'sweet', artistic girl."

"I think I see where this is going," Autumn hissed.

"I don't..." Payton responded.

* * *

_**Fifteen minutes later...**_

"The last victim reached up. With their dying breath, they pulled off the killer's mask, and saw the face of… the artist!"

Autumn's face contorted into a mask of seething rage as her face changed from her normal skin tone to a shade of red resembling molten lava. "What?! Artists are a peaceful people!"

Nishan nodded, concurring with me. "I could see it. All that angst..."

"Hey!" Autumn bellowed.

"See? That's exactly what I'm talking about!" Nishan pointed at the stewing hipster next to him. Julian looked disgusted, Payton looked confused, and I kept my look of complacence on. _Me: 1, Autumn: 0. _After all, no one likes a girl who blows up like a volcano.


	27. School Overnight, Part Three

"Thank you everyone, for coming. This was a lot of fun!" I lied to my classmates, who were all now congregating around the campfire.

Any idea that Autumn Brooks had was certainly the opposite of "fun". But I had to keep my façade up as the perfect "good girl", otherwise my school's reputation would be tarnished and I'd be forced back into the world of insipid boarding schools with rigid rules and _ew_-niforms.

"This bonfire is _a-ma-zing_!" Payton gushed.

"Some would say unsafely huge... forest-fire-startingly huge... let's see where this goes..." Nishan murmured.

"Yeah, I'm burning all of my homework." Julian grinned.

Autumn's thin lips puckered into a disapproving frown. "What?! That's terrible!"

"Hey, it's for a good cause..." Julian replied. "This fire is awesome, right?"

"Well... I guess the bonfire _is_ kind of romantic..." Autumn rapidly blinked her short eyelashes at Julian while giving him a grin that resembled a crazed maniac's.

Julian looked perplexed, probably due to Autumn's weird eye twitches. "Romantic?"

Autumn's face turned scarlet red. "I mean, it's artistic! It's so, um... the lighting is just..." she stammered. Looking at the camera in her hands, she yelled, "I better take a picture! Smile, everyone! Say 'campout'!"

"Campout!" I muttered sarcastically, fake smile and all. At the last second, I "accidentally" moved, so the picture would turn out blurry.

"Darn!" Autumn stomped her foot angrily as she viewed the shot. Before she could force everyone to retake it, everyone had dispersed to consume the food.

* * *

Julian came running up to me. "Hey! Remember that text I got from the blocked number?"

"The one warning you that Max was going to steal our plays? Yeah, I remember." I responded.

"Well, I just got another text... and this one is about a box of cupcakes."

"Huh?"

Julian explained. "According to this text, someone dropped off a box of cupcakes that were baked with something called ipecac... what is that, like, a special spice?"

My eyes narrowed. "It's a special spice, all right... one that makes you throw up!"

It took me less than a second to decipher who the guilty party was. Clearly, it was Cake-Up. The fact that the dessert she'd chosen was cup_cakes_ as opposed to brownies or cookies or another dessert was her idea of poetic justice for the nickname I'd given her… a nickname that even now, she was fulfilling, in a different way.

"That would explain why we didn't see who brought the cupcakes..." Payton remarked.

"Oh no! The cupcake box! It's completely empty!" I gasped. "We've got to warn everybody!"

"We'll need help! Quick, find a cheerleader to borrow a megaphone!" Payton shrieked.

Keeping calm, I gestured to the cheerleaders to come over.

"Okay, people. We've got a cupcake emergency." I announced.

"A cakemergency!" Payton added. Quickly, I explained the situation.

* * *

"Attention, everyone! Drop your cupcakes!" a cheerleader yelled, her words loudly emanating through her megaphone. Over on the other side of the camp, another cheerleader did the same.

I looked around. On one end of the camp, Autumn held a cupcake, about to take a bite. At the other, Nishan grabbed another cupcake.

You know who I chose.

I sprinted effortlessly in my Giuseppe Zanotti heels, bounding over tree roots and slippery patches of grass.

"Nishan! Don't eat the cupcake! It's a prank!" I vociferated.

"Well, of course I won't! It smells like ipecac!" Nishan declared.

"Oh… so you figured it out on your own… that's good. But that leaves…" I bit my lip to stop myself from smiling. At least Kara's lame prank had done something useful…

I slowly spun around to see Autumn raise the cupcake to her lips, her large mouth opening wide in greedy anticipation as she prepared to consume an obscene amount of calories…

…just as Julian grabbed her hand and stopped her!

_Dammit! _ I seethed inwardly. That bitch was _this _close to getting what she deserved.

"Trust me. You don't want to eat that cupcake." Julian frowned, his face resembling a sad teddy bear's.

The expression on his face had changed as he looked at her. He had saved Autumn… and now, it seemed, he was looking at her in a new light. Uh-oh. The Walking Fashion Don't's crush now seemed to reciprocate her feelings. Well, we'll see how she enjoys the pain of heartbreak… guys like Julian never stay with girls like her for long.

* * *

Just then, a car pulled up next to the campfire, and a group of Hearst High cheerleaders rolled down the windows.

"How's the little campout going? Enjoying your cupcakes?" Kara smirked, flipping her ponytail.

"I should have known you'd be behind the prank..." I feigned ignorance. As Sun Tzu said, all warfare is based on deception.

"Just a little present from Hearst High." Mia snidely added.

"Yeah? Well, it turns out that your stupid plan was too stupid to work. No one ate your cupcakes!" Payton jeered.

Mia gasped. "What?! How... how'd you know?"

Kara's heavily-lined raccoon eyes narrowed. "Someone must've warned them. No way they're smart enough to figure it out on their own. Don't worry, girls. We'll figure out who the traitor is."

And before I could insult her again, she sped off. _Dammit._

"Well, that's going to be trouble." I glared at the parking space Kara had just vacated.

"For more reasons than one," Julian agreed. "Come here. We need to talk... in private."


	28. The Mystery, Part One

"I got another anonymous text," Julian announced.

"Again?" Autumn whined. "Who keeps sending us these?"

"It's got to be someone from Hearst High..." Julian realized. "But who? I mean, they hate us!"

"Maybe it's someone who wants to transfer. It makes sense, right? This could be their way of reaching out." I hypothesized.

"Yeah, but if that's the case, why don't they reach out the old-fashioned way... you know, by coming over here?" Julian asked.

"Ahem!" Payton interrupted. "Who cares? If we've got a traitor helping us, that's good, right?"

Julian shook his head, a skeptical look on his face. "I don't like it. We don't know anything about this person. It could be a trick."

"Every text has helped us out so far." I pointed out. "Julian, what does the latest message say?"

"Just a warning that Max is up to something. The text said there's no details yet, but it's something big... and we should get ready." Julian replied.

"I guess now that we've got fifteen students, Max is trying to come up with a new way to get our school shut down." I narrowed my eyes. _That pathetic little asshole._

"But what is it?" Julian demanded, frustrated. "I don't know about you, but I'm tired of getting blindsided by that guy."

"If you really want answers..." Autumn began. "I know this guy, Wes, at Hearst High."

"You think he's the one who's been texting us?" I queried.

"No, I doubt it. He never helps anyone unless there's something in it for him," Autumn sniffed.

"And he's a friend of yours?" Julian raised an eyebrow.

Autumn flushed. "I know he sounds kind of sketchy, but he can usually get you any information you need, and he's not loyal to Max and Kara. I can set up a meeting... but he's always got an angle, and you might not always like how things go when he gets involved."

"Let's do it. We're going to figure this one out... before Hearst High messes with us again." I declared.

* * *

"So how do you know this Wes guy, anyway?" I interrogated Autumn as we walked to my car.

"Oh, Wes and I go way back," Autumn bragged. "We went to another school together before Hearst High. We... kind of have a history."

"A history?!" Julian bellowed. "What does that mean? Like a 'used to have class history', or a... you know... 'other kind of history'?"

"He means a _kissing _history!" Payton elaborated, gleefully.

"Can we all just focus on the present, please?" Autumn snapped, looking as pissed as a baby who'd just wet their diaper. "Let's go meet Wes."

* * *

_**Fifteen minutes later...**_

We arrived at the forests of Harner National Park, which was where Autumn had set up our rendezvous with this Wes character.

A tall, brown-haired guy with long, shaggy hair dressed in a gray hoodie and ripped jeans stood. I checked his shoes. Black slip-on Vans. Thank Gucci they weren't flip-flops. I wouldn't be able to stomach the sight of such a fashion disaster this late at night.

But then he looked up, and, oddly, I found myself at a loss for words. I felt… _shy_ for some reason. And I'm not the kind of girl who does shy.

"Autumn. Hey. Haven't seen you around in a long time. Hearst High isn't the same without you." The guy, who I assumed to be Wes, spoke in a soft tone.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I transferred without telling you... but I had a feeling you'd know." Autumn batted her squinty eyes at him, while, out of the corner of her eye, she looked at Julian to see his reaction. Julian, of course, was livid.

"Yeah, I have my ways. But y'know, someday you're going to have to stop running away from your problems." Wes informed the irate hipster.

"Look, I didn't come here so you could recap my life." Autumn snarled. "We need your help."

"I get it. A business call. Okay, so what can I do for you?" Wes questioned.

Julian spoke up. "We know Max is planning something big against us. We want to know what it is."

"Max, huh?" Wes mused. "You sure are good at picking enemies. That guy's tough to get information out of. I could tell you what's really in the cafeteria tacos. I could tell you who next year's Prom Queen will be. But getting to Max? That'll take some finesse."

Finally, I got a hold of myself and overcame my shyness. "So you'll get us what we need to know?" I demanded.

Wes met my gaze. "Hold on a second. It's not going to be easy... and that means it's going to cost you."

"What's your price?" Unconsciously, I'd begun twirling a lock of brunette hair around my finger.

"Information. I deal in secrets, so I'm going to need some secrets in return. There's going to be a break up at your school, soon. A big one. When it happens, I want to know who broke up with who, who cried about it the most, and what was said after. I want to know _everything_. Got it?" Wes queried.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Autumn hissed.

Wes shrugged. "Maybe something, maybe nothing. Let's just say there might be an interested party at Hearst High."

I snickered. "Okay. We'll let you know."

"It's a deal, then. Come back when you've got the dirt on the breakup." And with that, Wes left.

And I felt very confused for some reason.

"Why do I feel like we just made a deal with the devil?" I joked.

"Wes gets that a lot. But you just need to get to know him." Autumn said impertinently.

"Yeah, I think I'll pass on that," Julian responded, still mad about Autumn flirting with Wes. "We just have to get him what he wants to know."


	29. The Mystery, Part Two

_**The next day…**_

"I can't believe you think that movie was 'just all right'! It was _brilliant_!" a filmmaker guy roared.

"It's not my fault you have crappy taste in movies!" his girlfriend hissed.

"Well, apparently not as crappy as my choice of _date_! We're done!" He stormed off, leaving his infuriated ex in the distance.

"Guys, I think this was the break up Wes was talking about. So sad..." Autumn pouted, acting like it was the end of the world as opposed to a mediocre high school breakup.

"Let's text it to Wes and tell him what happened." I ordered her.

A few minutes later, Autumn ran up to us. "Wes texted back... he said if we want to know what Max is planning, we should meet up behind Hearst High's gym."

"I know the place," Julian replied. "Did your buddy say anything else?"

"Just that we should be prepared for 'ANYTHING'. And that was all in caps. 'ANYTHING'." Autumn widened her squinty eyes.

"I don't really trust that guy." Julian gripped his football so tightly, I worried that it would burst.

"I trust him." Autumn smiled, knowing full well that Julian was jealous. "Besides, it's not like we've got any better options."

"If we're going to do this, we go in ready for trouble. I think we need to get some solid backup." Julian assented.

"Agreed." I nodded.

* * *

"Hey, guys. Thanks for coming with us." I said to the two jocks who Julian had recruited as backup.

"No problem! I'll go with you and watch your back," the jock guy replied.

"And I'll watch the car in case they try to mess with it," the jock girl declared.

* * *

"Okay... so... we're here... what now?" I asked.

"I just got another text... it just says 'TRAP!'" Julian vociferated.

"What? Wes wouldn't set us up. That's impossible." Autumn hissed.

Just then, Mia ran up to us from the other side of the alley waving her cell phone. _What the heck was Barbie Junior doing here?_

"You idiots, do you not know how to read?! Get out of here! Wes set you up! He told Max everything!" Mia exclaimed.

"What? No... he wouldn't do that..." Autumn shook her head, glaring at Mia.

"Wait a minute..." Julian questioned. "Mia's the one who's been helping us?"

"Oh no, I'm too late! Look out!" Mia gasped.

Above us, Max and his friends leaned out of windows, pouring down buckets of spoiled mayonnaise. Quickly, I jumped to the side, successfully avoiding it. But the other members of my group weren't so lucky. Globs of thick, smelly mayo rained down, covering the rest of my group… and Autumn, to my delight. At least one good thing came out of Max's puerile prank.

"Eeek! It's running down my back!" Mia shrieked.

"Ew ew ew! It's in my hair!" Autumn whined.

I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. It wasn't like Autumn washed her oily, greasy hair anyways, so why was she so upset?

"That smell... I'm gonna be sick!" Julian groaned.

"Oh, yuck." Mia carped.

"Mia... what are you doing down there? Why were you trying to warn them?" Max looked down, confused.

"Because! I've been trying to help them!" Mia confessed.

"What?!" Max bellowed.

"I told them about your dumb plan to steal their plays _and _about the cupcakes." Mia glared up at them.

"Mia... I can't believe it." Kara put her hands on her hips.

"_Why _would you do something like this?" Max interrogated.

"Hearst High isn't the same for me, Max. Dad loves you. You're his perfect football hero son. You get to do whatever you want. He treats me like a prisoner. He won't let me date who I want to date. He won't let me do what I want to do." Mia spoke, her words rising in anger. "And you and Kara are even worse. If I stay at Hearst High, I'll always be living in your shadows, and I'm sick of being told what to do! I wanted to leave, but there'd be nowhere to go if you guys messed up this school. So I told them about some of your stupid plans."

"Mia... calm down. You don't know what you're saying. Look, there's not even going to be another school soon. You're wasting your time." Max puffed his chest out.

"What?" I hissed at Wannabe Stud.

"No big deal," Max smirked. "Just that the mayor, who happens to play golf with my dad, heard about your little school starting up... and he thinks it's time for a little surprise inspection. You know, just to make sure you school is really providing the best educational environment for its students... and, of course, if it turns out that your school is found lacking, then... well, I guess he'd have no choice but to shut it down..." Max made an expression of fake pity.

"No one's closing our school, loser." I snapped.

"We'll see when the inspector comes. Come on, guys. Let's get out of here." Quickly, Max and his cronies left before I could began tearing him apart. As mean as he acted, no one could detect and hone in people's weaknesses and insecurities as well as I could. And Max and Kara were well aware of that, hence their hasty departures every time we got into a confrontation.

"Well, that was terrible." Autumn complained.

"Let's get this mayonnaise mess cleaned up," I proclaimed, gesturing to my friends, who were all covered with the repugnant-smelling mayo.

"Yeah. The sooner the better," Julian agreed.

* * *

Later, back at school, everyone washed off with a hose.

"Yuck. I'm never going to look at mayonnaise the same way again!" Autumn cried, stomping her foot.

"Hearst High won this round..." Julian frowned.

"We've just got to make sure they don't win when it counts... when that school inspection happens!" I decreed.

"Wait a second, what about Mia?" Julian asked. "Little Miss Hearst High followed us here."

"Huh? I'm... I'm with you guys. Obviously." Mia asserted.

"Back up. Explain that 'obviously' part." Autumn narrowed her squinty eyes at Mia.

"Well, I totally warned you about the cupcakes..." Mia began.

"That _you _helped bake." Autumn hissed, her face turning redder and redder until she looked like she was going to blow up.

"And I warned you about Max trying to steal your plays," Mia continued. "And hello? I'm just as covered in mayo as the rest of you!"

"She's got a point," I relented. "It's not like she'll be welcomed back at Hearst High now that she's done this."

"I still say we can't trust her," Autumn replied, like I'd asked her for her opinion. "If we learned anything from Wes, it's that we shouldn't trust anyone at that school."

"Just give me a chance, okay? That's all I'm asking." Mia pleaded.

"Everyone gets a chance here. That's what makes us different from Hearst!" I gave Autumn a _look_. "Mia... welcome to our school."


	30. The Mean Girl, Part One

Payton walked up to me, her normally cheery face enraged. "I heard a _crazy rumor _that you let this evil cheerleader into our school."

"Er... about that..." I began.

"Oh, Payton! I remember you. The girl who ruined my party." Mia glared at her.

"That was an accident, and way better than trying to ruin someone's social life on purpose!" Payton defended herself. "We don't need people like _you_ here."

_Damn, why can't Payton act like this to _Autumn _instead?_

"But..." Mia stammered.

"Look," I began in a consoling tone. "Mia's the one who sent us the texts about what Hearst High was plotting. Can you at least give her a chance?"

"You don't know her like I do," Payton retorted. "Trust me. _No one _is going to want her here. We all _hate_ her." And with that, Payton stormed off.

_The same can be said for Autumn_, I thought.

"But... I'm... popular. And attractive. And rich. Why would people hate me?" Mia frowned.

Before I could reply, I realized we had an audience.

"That might be how things worked at Hearst, Mia, but it's not how they are here. People don't like you just because you're popular. You're popular because people like you." I said in a saccharine tone.

Another talent I had? Coming up with cheesy one-liners that everyone fell for. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the approving expressions of my classmates.

"Is that, like, a Taylor Swift song?" Mia asked. I snickered.

I continued on with my bullshit act. "If you want people to like you, Mia, you have to reach out to them. Get to know them. Be nice to them."

"Ugggggh." Mia groaned.

"Here, I'll help you. Just try to be nice to people, okay? I'll try to talk them into giving you a chance." I lead Mia to the center prep hangout. Hopefully Payton wouldn't be there. As much as I loved the girl, I needed to talk with Mia privately.

* * *

"Welcome to my hangout," I announced, unlocking the front door.

Once we were situated in the powder room, we sat down on the plush pink chairs in the sitting area.

"So," I began. "You currently have a 0% approval rating here at my school. We totes have to change that." I leaned in conspiratorially. "To be honest, you're one of the few people I've met in this town who actually have a decent fashion sense. You're better off with _us_ than those _losers_ over at Hearst. But first, we have to restore your popularity here. And that means playing 'nice'. Understood?"

Mia nodded. "So… who do we fix my reputation with first?"

I gestured to my iPhone. "I saw on Nishan's Facebook page that he's filming a sci-fi fan film today. If you show up and help, you might be able to get on his good side."

* * *

"Mia! You really want to help with my fan film? You were always so mean to be back at Hearst High..." Nishan exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, now I'm not, okay? I'm totally into... whatever this thing is about..." Mia grumbled.

"Oh, you'll be absolutely perfect!" Nishan gushed. "I was hoping we'd find a pretty girl to play the sassy companion..."

"Thanks, I guess, but whose sassy companion am I, exactly?" Mia asked.

"The Doctor's!" Nishan replied.

"I am _not_ playing doctor..." Mia snapped.

"Ha ha! That's so something a companion would say. Roll cameras!" Nishan proclaimed.

* * *

_**Twenty minutes later…**_

"And cut! That was perfect!" Nishan announced.

"I have literally no idea what we just filmed." Mia disclosed.

"Oh, it never actually makes sense... but it's just so fun! I'm just really grateful for your assistance, Mia. I couldn't have done it without you!" Nishan decreed.

"It was actually kind of fun..." Mia admitted. "But if this ends up online, you're a dead man." I laughed.

"That went better than expected!" I declared.

"Yay! Nishan likes me!" Mia cheered.

"Yeah, it's a good start... but don't forget, you've still got a long way to go before people here really trust you." I responded as I checked my nails.

"Boo. Fine, what's next?"

"Ugh, you're not going to like this one, but we don't really have a choice. As long as she hates you, she'll keep bringing up your past at Hearst until everyone else hates you as well. She's one irritating bitch."

"Don't tell me… it's Little Miss Quirkface?" Mia inquired.

I nodded. "Autumn is painting over by the Artist Hangout. She's always got extra supplies in case anyone wants to join her."

"Ugh. But if it gets her to hop off, I'll do it," Mia replied.


	31. The Mean Girl, Part Two

"Hey, guys. What's up?" Autumn squealed. I normally didn't visit Autumn, or seek her out at school, so when I did, she would act like a rabid dog, frothing over the mouth in excitement that someone like me was interacting with a loser like her.

"I... er... want to paint with you?" Mia asked, skeptically.

Autumn glared at her. "Is this a setup for a prank or something? Because I remember how things were at Hearst High, and I really don't have time to spend another afternoon washing cotton candy out of my hair."

_Ooh, I wonder what happened… and if I can recreate it, but worse_, I mused to myself.

"No, it's not a setup, you weirdo!" Mia snapped. "I just want to... paint... things..." she lied.

Autumn assumed an air of superiority. "Well, I never turn down a soul in search of artistic expression...," she sniffed, "and I have to admit, I'm curious about what you're going to paint."

"Sooo... I can paint with you?" Mia crossed her arms.

"We'll just need somewhere nice to paint... somewhere inspiring..." Autumn replied. Then I saw the look in her eyes and I knew what was next.

Autumn was too poor to afford anything, especially art supplies, so she constantly took advantage of my boundless wallet, forcing me to buy art supplies, school decorations, and even clothes for her, claiming it was "for the good of the school". That was the excuse everyone used when they wanted me to buy something for them, and I was fed up with it. It wasn't _my_ fault she was broke, so why should I have to do anything for her?

* * *

One long trip to Home Depot and the art supply store later, Autumn was _finally _ready to paint with Mia, after she had nearly maxed out my black AmEx, which was no easy feat.

"So, what should I paint?" Mia asked me.

"How about a self-portrait?" I suggested.

"Hmmm… I do like looking at myself…" Mia admitted.

"Me too," I smirked. "Then it should be a piece of cake!" _Fat-free, sugar-free cake, of course._

A little while later, Autumn walked over to us.

"What do you think?" Mia asked.

"Hmm… an abstract rendering of some unspeakable evil, a truly Cubist representation of ugliness, loathing, and fear…" Autumn started, a virulent glint in her squinty brown eyes.

I gave her a dirty look.

Seeing my face, Autumn cowered. "Just kidding. I can tell it's a self-portrait. And it's pretty good!"

Mia exchanged a look with me. "This is actually kind of fun!"

"Heh... yeah. It really is." Autumn lied, looking down at her ratty sneakers, too embarrassed to look us in the eye. Didn't anyone teach the girl that when you play with fire, you get burned?

* * *

"Hey! Mia!" Julian hollered to us as we walked out of the artist hangout.

"What's up?" Mia questioned.

"I get that you're going around, doing this whole win people over thing... and I'm not buying it. You had a sweet setup at Hearst High. And something about this feels like you're not telling us the whole story." Julian clenched his fists.

"What is this, an interrogation?" Mia retorted.

"I don't know!" Julian shouted. "You tell me! Is it?!"

"That doesn't even make sense!" Mia snapped.

"Uh... maybe you two should spend some quality time together and talk this out..." I began, slowly leading them to Party Central, where a party was going on in full swing.

* * *

_**Thirty minutes later…**_

"Okay, you seem pretty cool," Julian admitted. "But I still don't really get why you don't want to stay at Hearst High."

"Ugh, if you have to know... my dad is super strict. He won't let me do what I want to do... and he didn't approve of the person I liked. She went to another school, and my dad didn't want me associating with anyone who wasn't under his thumb at Hearst. And as long as I'm living under his roof _and _going to a high school he runs, my dad's never going to let me out of his sight. He'd have total control over my life. At least now I've got some time to myself every day." Mia confided.

Julian nodded. "I get what you're saying, kid. Welcome to our school."

Mia turned to me. "Y'know, I'm really making progress. Julian likes me, Nishan likes me... even weird art girl is kinda okay with me." I snickered at that.

"It's a start, but there are more people at this school than just the three of them! You know, if you really want to make an impression on more people, you could help me improve the campus! I have to get it ready for that school inspection." I smiled.

Mia frowned. "Improving the campus? That sounds hard. Can't I just hire someone to do it for me?"

"Heh. It's not that bad. Come help me out and see." I led and organized the efforts, and my classmates did the grunt work for me. That was one of the perks of being a leader...


	32. The Mean Girl, Part Three

"This place is amazing! I'd stay here all day! In fact, I wish I _could_. My dad and Max have been _furious_ ever since I transferred." Mia divulged.

"Well, I'm glad you're here." I smiled. "I think we should be just about done!"

"I'm amazed. This actually didn't totally suck. I never thought I'd make a sci-fi movie or paint anything. Kara wouldn't have let me do that stuff I'd tried. But now that I did, I have to say it was actually... kind of fun! If this is what it takes to be popular here, well, I'd pick it over Hearst any day." Mia admitted.

"I'm glad you're liking our school," I replied. Of course, I knew she would prefer our school. It was clearly superior to that piece of shit known as Hearst High.

"Everyone's _actually_ been nice," Mia sounded amazed. "There's just one thing... I do miss being on the cheer squad. Think the cheerleaders will let me join?"

* * *

In the middle of the gym, Mia faced the cheerleading squad. "So... I'm kind of an expert in cheerleading. At Hearst High, we've won dozens of awards..."

"Hey, don't expect to just come to our school and take over our squad!" a cheerleader girl snapped.

"I'm overqualified to be head cheerleader, and you know it!" Mia retorted.

"Ahem! Mia, let's start with just getting you on the team, okay?" I responded. She would be head cheerleader soon enough, after everyone got over their initial distrust of her.

"Right. I do want to be on the team. I know I can help! Let me take a look at your routine. Maybe I can give you some pointers." Mia began.

"Ha! Our routine is perfect!" a cheerleader guy sniffed.

"You should hear her out. There's always room to improve." I backed Mia up.

* * *

_**Ten minutes later…**_

"So, what do you think of our routine?" a cheerleader girl queried.

"It's awesome! But what do you think of something like this for the ending?" Mia then did a running, tumbling pass with a triple somersault that culminated into splits.

"Okay, that was pretty good," the cheerleader girl admitted. "With her help, we're going to be way better than any other squad in the state!"

"Yay! That went so well!" Mia squealed.

"And now... it's time for you to face Payton." I stated. I knew that Mia would become one of my close friends. And Payton was my other close friend, so I needed them to get along. After all, what good was a queen without her court?

"Noooo, not Payton! That prep _hates _me! She ruined my party! She's out to get me!" Mia cried.

"Payton doesn't hate you. She just forgot about your party. You just need to get to know her in the right setting. I've got an idea." I grinned to myself. Time for some retail therapy!


	33. The Mean Girl, Part Four

"What?! You want me to go _shopping_ with _her_?" Payton screeched.

"You think I'm any happier about it?" Mia sniped. "If she leaves us alone together, you'll probably smother me with a handbag."

"You two need to give each other a chance. If you guys talk, I'm sure you'll realize this is all a big misunderstanding. Besides, it's shopping!" I grinned, knowing I was right.

"Oh, fine!" Payton conceded. "But it's not nice to exploit my love of shopping!"

* * *

_**At the mall...**_

"Um, why do all of the salespeople know you by name?" Payton inquired excitedly.

"Please, I spend most of my time here." Mia waved her hand. "They're like a second family!"

"A second family that keeps bringing us snacks and more dresses to try on..." Payton said dreamily.

"Yeah, much better than family, now that I think about it." Mia commented.

* * *

"So, since you two are both still alive, I'm guessing this shopping trip went well..." I began.

"Yeah. Payton is actually kind of cool. I guess she wasn't really trying to sabotage my social life," Mia admitted.

"I _am _sorry that I let you down," Payton confessed. "I just got so excited helping with this school that I forgot. It was totally unintentional!"

"Well, that's not what Kara said... but I'm starting to think I shouldn't have trusted her so much. And I didn't realize that everything I did, like, hurt you so much." Mia looked down at her Jimmy Choos.

"Aw, it's okay," Payton replied. "You're... you're actually kind of okay."

"Thanks, Payton!" Mia enthused. "Does this mean I get to help you plan the next big party?"

"What? No! I didn't say that..." Payton started.

"I can just picture it... a fancy masquerade theme... red velvet cake... totally ripped butlers..." Mia gushed.

I smiled. "Aw, how can you be upset when she's just so happy? It's adorable."

Payton sighed in response, but I could tell she wasn't actually upset. Now that she and Mia were getting along, my inner circle was complete… for now. And now that I had my inner circle, that meant things were going to get interesting for this school…

* * *

_**Later, back at school...**_

Payton, Mia, and I were sitting at the café table in front of the center prep hangout, enjoying our soy lattes when a blight on our landscape came up.

"Hey! I've got big news!" Autumn screeched at the top of her lungs.

Cringing, Mia, Payton, and I all covered our ears.

"I found out more about Max's plan to shut down our school." Autumn spoke in a rush, her words barely decipherable. "The school inspection is going to be conducted by three members of the state board. And I even found out who one of the board members is! Mr. Kernsprickle, the president of the local Actors' Guild!"

"And your point is?" I narrowed my eyes at Autumn, but she couldn't see as they were obscured by my Dolce &amp; Gabbana sunglasses.

"It means we've got an edge!" Autumn squealed, jumping wildly like a drunken kangaroo. "We know that he cares about... performing arts!" She made jazz hands as she spoke the last two words, but the way she did them made her look like a 1900s asylum inmate on crack. "We've just got to do something to impress him..." Autumn started, crossing her arms as she looked expectantly at me.

I could guess what she wanted. "So we put on a play and then invite him?

"Exactly!" Autumn sniffed.


	34. The Show Must Go On, Part One

"Okay, Autumn told me the situation. We can pull this off, but it isn't going to be easy. We don't have enough actors, so we'll definitely need to recruit from other cliques to fill all the roles," an actor guy informed me.

Again, Autumn had gone ahead and started on things without consulting me first. That girl had zero respect for who was _really _in charge. Still, I kept my fake smile up as I replied, "I'll call everyone together for a meeting. I bet we can find some people who are willing to help!"

* * *

"Thanks for coming, everyone." I announced.

"Of course," Payton replied. "Just let us know what we can do to help."

Mia nodded. "Yeah, I'm in."

"And my axe!" Nishan added.

"Uh, yeah... and you can count on me. Whatever it takes." Julian spoke up.

"Aww! Thanks, guys!" Autumn quickly butted in before I could reply. "Julian, I didn't picture you as the drama club type," she added snidely, before batting her short eyelashes at him.

"Well, I'm a sucker for a good fight, and if protecting our school from Max's plan means putting on girly tights and prancing around, I guess I'm in. I'm uncomfortable, but I'm in." Julian conceded.

"This is going to be fantastic!" an actor guy exclaimed. "But... what play should we perform?"

Autumn assumed an air of superiority. "I heard that Kernsprickle _loves_ Shakespeare. He was even spotted tearing up at a recent production of _Romeo and Juliet_…" she not-so-subtly hinted, giving me a demanding glance.

Autumn was a master at this, always asking me for what she wanted when we were in front of other people. She knew that I had to keep my "nice girl" act up in front of everyone, so I couldn't say no to her without looking like the bad guy.

I knew she wanted the play to be _Romeo and Juliet_ so she and her crush would be cast as the leads. _But that's not going to happen_, I snickered to myself. Well, half of her wish would come true… but not in the way Autumn desired it to be.

"Then that sounds like our play." I replied sardonically, with fake enthusiasm.

"_Romeo and Juliet_ will be perfect!" the actor guy responded. "Mia, you can help direct the actors."

"Sure. I love bossing people around." Mia smirked.

The actor guy continued. "Julian, you can be our fight-scene coordinator. I bet you can choreograph a cool sword fight."

"I'm on it." Julian answered.

"_Romeo and Juliet_ has amazing opportunities for backgrounds and costumes," the actor guy proclaimed to Payton, Nishan, and Autumn.

"I can get started on those!" Autumn screeched. "But..." a devious glint formed in her eye, "I need some room to paint, some funding for supplies, and a little artistic backup." She looked at me pointedly.

I knew what was coming next, and I was pissed off. Autumn thought I was her personal ATM, here to pay for all the overpriced art supplies she wanted while using the school as an excuse. She's talented at using people for her own ends, I'll give her that. But what this bitch doesn't know is, once this school inspection crap is over and I can concentrate on my other plans, she'll be deader than last season's Marc Jacobs sweater dress.


	35. The Show Must Go On, Part Two

_**The night of the play…**_

"How's the set working out?" I interrogated Autumn.

"It's perfect!" Autumn jumped up and down. "And not a moment too soon. Mr. Kernsprickle just arrived, and he's in the front row! It's time for the show!" No shit, Sherlock.

Autumn peeked out through the curtains, even though you weren't supposed to do that. "Every seat in the house is filled!" she screeched.

I rolled my eyes. "Are we ready for the curtain to go up?"

"Just about!" Autumn replied. Then her eyes narrowed at me as she continued, in a fake cheery tone, "We only need to make sure Romeo and Juliet are in their places!"

Autumn was enraged because she expected to be given the role of Juliet, since her crush Julian had been cast as Romeo. But that role had went to me, clearly, as I had always been the female lead in every school play. She wouldn't have gotten it anyhow as her acting skills were subpar.

The lights dimmed, and Julian and I took our places behind the stage. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Autumn. I bit back a smirk. I had an idea…

"I'm so nervous! I can't believe it's time!" I cried, holding close to Julian. Behind me, Autumn fumed.

"We'll be fine..." Julian replied. "All right, the curtain's coming up! Let's go!"

* * *

_**Thirty minutes later…**_

"But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." Julian proclaimed.

"O Romeo, Romeo!" I cried. "Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou will not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet."

"I take thee at thy word: call me but love, and I'll be new baptized; henceforth I never will be Romeo," Julian replied.

Then Julian-as-Romeo passionately kissed me-as-Juliet while the audience applauded. Even though it was horrendous stage etiquette, Autumn peeked out of the curtain. I knew since I could feel her icy glare on the back of my head. Well, she wanted her crush to be recruited to this school, didn't she? And she got her wish.

* * *

_**Later, at intermission...**_

"Well, we made it to intermission... and everything's going great!" I announced.

"Actually..." Autumn smirked, delighted to be the purveyor of bad news, "we've got a crisis! Some people were sitting next to Kernsprickle, and he was complaining about how much he prefers musicals!"

"What?!" I snapped. Autumn had deliberately neglected to tell me this piece of information.

"We've got to add some music in, fast!" Payton cried.

I kept calm. "We can do this. They do it every week on_ Glee_, don't they? Go find some music. I'll get some dancers to help choreograph a new finale."

* * *

"Okay, the dancers are here!" Autumn squealed. "I explained that we need an exciting new musical finale, fast." Her tone was still slightly snippy as she was still upset about Julian and I's stage kiss.

"And they can do it?" I queried.

"They're going to try!" she screeched. "But we're all going to have to help out and join in." Autumn glared at me, even though I had always helped out with my school. In actuality, I helped out more than she ever had or did.

* * *

_**After intermission…**_

"Well, intermission's over..." Autumn loudly snapped her gum.

"Time to see if we can pull off this big musical number," Payton proclaimed.

"With no rehearsal time and a packed house? What could possibly go wrong?" I sarcastically remarked.

The curtain parted, revealing the bodies of Romeo and Juliet, lying tenderly side by side... when a resounding, big band orchestra kicked in, playing a jaunty musical tune. The actors burst into song, while a chorus of dancers emerged from behind the curtains.

"Romeo drank poison, and now he's dead!"

"And next to him, Juliet's blood's shed!"

"So much for that guy's cocky swagger!"

"Who gave that crazy girl a dagger?!"

"You've never heard more a tale of woe..."

"Good thing it happened long ago!"

The dancers twirled onto the stage with a series of epic flips as everyone on stage lunged into their final poses, and the crowd burst into applause.

* * *

"So I know this last-minute finale was stressful... but it paid off! I heard from someone sitting next to Kernsprickle that he loved it!" Autumn shrilled. "He said he wished more schools would follow our example and create new interpretations of the classics!"

"That's the best news ever! Let's celebrate at the after-party!" Payton exclaimed.

"Well, that's at least one member of the board that we've impressed." Autumn sniffed.

"One down, two to go," I commented.


	36. The Science Fair, Part One

_**Monday**_

Nishan came up to me. "I've got big news! I was able to contact the second board member, Professor Edwin. She's the youngest head physicist to win the Quantum Award for Scientific Discovery! She did something with portals and cakes... I don't remember the details. Anyway, she asked if our school has any science events coming up that she could attend!"

"That's great!" I replied.

Suddenly, Autumn butted in. "Uh, _do _we have any events?" she snapped.

"Not yet, but I was thinking we could have a science fair! It'll be a good way to get the whole school involved!" Nishan continued. "I already have an idea for my project... but it's going to be ambitious. Very ambitious. It's something I always wanted to do at Hearst, but could never get permission... You know that many science fairs feature a model volcano, right?"

"Yeah, I've heard of that. Isn't that a little basic?" I inquired.

"Not when you're constructing a gravity-accurate Venusian Vapor Volcano!" Nishan exclaimed.

"Is that really a thing?"

"Well, this will simulate what one _would _be like," Nishan mused. "I want it to be a perfect predictor of what life will be like for the terraforming future colonists of Venus when they go too far and destabilize the planet."

"Oooh!" Autumn screeched. Nishan and I covered our ears. "I can help with that. You're going to need someone to make the tiny trees and miniature people, right?"

"Well, tiny terra-forming mist trees and miniature space settlers..." Nishan responded.

"Close enough!" Autumn yawped.

"Should I be worried?" I asked.

"Let's just say that if you can clear out some room around here, it'll help. And some funding will also be required..." Nishan began.

I sighed, reaching for my Gucci wallet. As usual, I was the one who had to pay for everything.

* * *

_**Thursday**_

"There! The Venusian Vapor Volcano is done! The enclosed environment is the closest possible replication of the planet Venus." Nishan announced.

"Wow... it's taller than I am!" I exclaimed, which was truly a feat as I was wearing six-inch Louboutins.

"Anyway, when we set it off, it'll show what we can expect early space settlers to face as they terraform other planets! Professor Edwin is _definitely _going to be impressed!" Nishan enthused.

* * *

_**Friday**_

"I have to admit, when I heard about your school, I was skeptical. The faculty presence is almost non-existent... but it seems you have everything well-managed here." Professor Edwin commented as she entered the auditorium.

Her hair was set in a short black bob while her dark eyes frequently scanned the room, searching for discipline problems. I checked her shoes. They were beat-up, fugly businesswoman loafers dating back from the 1980s. She probably hadn't changed her shoes since then.

"I think you'll find that our school is a shining example of efficiency and organization," Nishan politely replied. "Now, let me show you around the science fair. Over here, we have Julian's experiment..."

"My project examines the science behind the common question, 'Can Anyone Beat Me At Arm-Wrestling?' Conclusion: only dirty cheaters." Julian gave me a _look_.

I smirked back at him. Hey, I do whatever it takes to win!

"A very... non-traditional approach..." Professor Edwin sniffed.

"Just wait until you see the rest of what we have!" Nishan exclaimed. "And in this corner... is Mia's analytical study..."

"Here you can see that I've graphed attractiveness versus popularity, and I also have charts comparing household income to quality of clothing!" Mia gestured to her project. I gave my best friend a thumbs-up.

"And Payton has extensively researched the science of partying," I gestured to my other close friend.

"I'm working on creating a perfect party... the right combination of snacks, music, decorations, and dancing!" Payton gushed.

"I must say, this is an impressive level of participation from the school. A little unorthodox... but it's delightful to see so many students involved!" Professor Edwin began.

"There's still one project left to show you, Professor Edwin! This over here is the pinnacle of our science fair... literally... the Venusian Vapor Volcano!" With a flourish, Nishan lead us to his completed model volcano.

"A surprising twist on the classic. I assume it's fully operational?" Professor Edwin queried.

Nishan nodded. "Of course! Let me merely activate it, and..."

But Nishan was cut off as the volcano rumbled... shook... and then violently exploded, erupting in paint and goop that splattered all over the room... and all over Professor Edwin.

"What? No!" Nishan gasped. "How... how could this happen! This is impossible!"

"Impossible?" Professor Edwin snapped. "It's clearly not impossible. What this is... it's... simply appalling! Does this school have no regard for safety?!"

Nishan stuttered. "I... I..."

"Good day, sir." Professor Edwin said through gritted teeth.

"But—" Nishan tried again.

"I said good day!" Professor Edwin roared and stormed off.

I glared at Fugly Loafers' retreating back. I knew from the start, from the way she appraised our school and our science fair, that this woman hated us for some reason I couldn't yet elucidate.

It was a small mistake, a total accident, and she didn't even give us a second chance. If Fugly Loafers was anywhere near our school, she would definitely give us a hard time. It was up to me to keep her away, and that meant passing the inspections.

And then, I could finally get around to concocting a plan to absolutely _ruin_ Hearst…


	37. The Science Fair, Part Two

"This is a disaster," Autumn pouted, pretending to commiserate with Nishan.

But I knew better. Autumn wasn't upset for Nishan… she was upset that _her _artwork on the volcano was ruined.

"I just don't understand." Nishan cried. "This shouldn't have happened. It _couldn't _have happened!"

Amid the chaos, I kept calm and took charge. "Come on. We need to buy some supplies to clean up this mess. If we sort through the wreckage, maybe we can figure out what went wrong."

* * *

_**Forty minutes later…**_

"Yuck. I can't believe Nishan ruined the science fair," Mia confided to me. We were all sitting in the auditorium, exhausted after cleaning up the immense mess the volcano had made.

Nishan overheard us. "It wasn't my fault!" he yawped.

"Calm down, everyone." I was already sick of this. Cleaning up this mess had left me tired and stressed, and I just wanted to go home and have my manicurist, Yvonne, and my masseuse, Jacques, work their magic on me. I was _way_ overdue for a spa day.

But Mia was still fed up. "Don't tell me to calm down! I made charts! I actually did _work _for this! And then his weird volcano ruined everything!"

I gave Mia a warning _look_.

"My measurements were perfect!" Nishan retorted. "I conducted three trials to ensure no amount of error would creep in! I didn't even use any elements that could cause this kind of reaction!"

Just then, something caught the corner of my eye. Crouching down, I inspected the bottom of the volcano.

"Wait a second..." I began. "I just found burnt-up firecrackers at the bottom of the volcano. Nishan, did you put firecrackers in the lava-mist?"

"Of course not!" Nishan replied indignantly. "The volcanic eruption is a chemical reaction, not the result of firecrackers..."

"Then maybe it was Autumn's fault!" Mia glared at the hipster slash art freak. "She's the one that painted it and everything! Maybe she used explosive ink!"

"That does make sense," I seconded.

Autumn's face grew red, just like the lava from the volcano that had exploded today. "All I did was decorate it! And that's not even a thing!"

I channeled my "class president" façade. "Stop it, everyone! We need to focus and come together, not get distracted by blaming each other!"

"She's right. Seems like you're all forgetting what's really going on here." Wes seemingly emerged from nowhere.

Autumn looked confused. "Huh? Wes? Where did you come from?"

Wes deflected the question. "That's not important. I'm just here to remind you who your _real _enemy is."

My eyes narrowed. "…Max and Kara. They did this."

"They... they ruined my volcano!" Nishan vociferated.

"This is about more than your stupid volcano!" Mia growled. "They ruined the whole school's chance to impress Professor Edwin!"

Wes spoke up. "It's not over yet. There are _three _members of the board. You need to impress two out of the three to win the vote. Since you just sprayed one with goop, it's safe to say you're not getting _her _vote. But you've still got one last chance to save your school... you just have to make sure you don't mess up with this final board member."

"You're right," I nodded. "That means we've still got a shot at saving our school."


	38. The Final Challenge, Part One

"We just got word from the third member of the board, Mr. Javellana. He's an ex-basketball star, a huge sports nut... and he wants to check out our sports program firsthand." Julian announced.

"Do we have any sporting events coming up?" I questioned.

"Mr. Javellana took care of that for us. Apparently, he's all buddy-buddy with the principal at Hearst, so they worked out an exhibition match... a co-ed basketball game against Hearst High," Julian replied.

"A basketball game, huh? That shouldn't be too bad, right? We just need to recruit some players. I'm up for it." I responded.

"I'm in. I've actually played a little basketball..." Autumn puffed her chest out, interrupting yet another conversation.

I ignored her. "Julian? You're our star athlete... we can count on you, right?"

"Uh, I hate to break this to you, but I'm not a basketball guy. Football is really more my thing. And those skills don't really translate, unless you want me tackling dudes on the court..." Julian began hesitantly.

"And there's one more thing," Mia added. "Max is kind of a big basketball star at Hearst High."

"Uh oh." I groaned.

"Yeah. He's been playing since he was six! I've had to suffer through his stupid games for years. My dad always makes me go watch. At this point, I've seriously watched enough games that I could coach a team..." Mia mused to herself.

"Oh really?" I began.

"Uh oh. This is going to end in you asking me to coach the team, isn't it?" Mia asked.

"Will you do it?" I inquired, a manicured hand on my hip, making it obvious that she didn't have a choice.

"Only if I get to yell and boss people around!" she replied. I grinned.

* * *

_**Later…**_

Julian ran up to the hoop and threw the ball. It crashed off the backboard. Mia loudly blew her coach's whistle.

"Wrong, wrong, _wrong_!" Mia hollered. "Julian, you're traveling. Remember, you're supposed to dribble! And you're throwing that ball like it's a football. You're never going to make a basket that way."

Julian looked down at his shoes. "Sorry. Old habits die hard."

"Well, I'm going to help put them out of their misery. Give me twenty laps around the court, and dribble the ball while you run!" Mia ordered.

She then passed another basketball to Autumn.

"Art girl! You're up! Let's see what you can do." Mia sneered.

Unfortunately, Autumn easily caught the ball, dribbled down the court, and gracefully lobbed the ball into the hoop.

Autumn puffed her chest out. "Easy!"

"Autumn... you're... actually... good." Mia murmured, shocked.

"My dad's a big basketball fan," Autumn bragged. Then her eyes narrowed in anger. "Playing one-on-one is basically the only father-daughter bonding we do."

_Ooh, someone's got daddy issues! _I snickered to myself.

"Yeah, well, you've got good aim, but you need to work on your speed. Sprints up and down the court! Now!" Mia glared at the art freak slash hipster.

Autumn ignored her and turned to me. "Wow, I didn't realize Mia could be so... hardcore."

I rolled my eyes. "At least she's on our side."


	39. The Final Challenge, Part Two

Nishan strode into the gym, carrying an armload of boxes. "Hey, sports fellows... I've got something to show you. Trust me. You're going to like this. Here, shoes for everyone!"

Julian opened his box. "Whoa! These shows are awesome. What's this mushy stuff in the middle?" he inquired, poking at it.

"That's my special bouncy goo," Nishan replied. "I'll call it B-Goo. Or maybe GooB. Patent pending. It's specifically designed to make you jump higher. To put more spring in your step and all that."

"_And _they're fashionable." Payton squealed. "I used color blocking and our school colors to—"

"Yeah, whatever, they're a color." Julian indecorously interrupted her. "Look how high I can jump!"

I gave him a dirty look while Payton sighed.

Autumn, noticing that everyone was looking at the new shoes and not paying attention to _her_, scowled and walked over to us.

"I just got a text from Wes. He wants to talk to me," Autumn batted her squinty eyes suggestively.

Julian glowered. "That guy? Again?"

"I know you didn't trust him, but he _did_ help us figure out what Max was up to," Autumn looked down at her phone's screen as a flirtatious smile slowly swept across her face.

I knew what game she was playing; Autumn was doing this to make Julian envious. And it was working, from the indignant look on Julian's face.

What a bitch. Who did Autumn Brooks think she was? She wasn't even pretty enough to string two guys along.

"By luring us into Max's trap!" Julian exclaimed indignantly.

"Wes gets _very_ specific results," Autumn replied in a suggestive tone.

"Well, let's just say I don't trust his 'very specific' way of doing things." Julian glowered.

"Look, if he says he needs to talk, then I'm going to meet him." Autumn snapped, her face growing redder in anger by the minute.

"At least take some muscle with you," Julian sighed.

* * *

"Nice entourage, Autumn," Wes remarked, scanning our group. "I'm starting to think you don't trust me."

"Can you blame me, Wes?" Autumn scowled. "After what happened last time?"

"Yeah, well, has it ever occurred to you that I'm spending all this time trying to keep your school _out _of trouble?" Wes shot back. "Speaking of which... I want you to cancel the basketball game."

"Is this your scheme? Trying to get us to blow our one chance to save our school?" Julian demanded.

"You really don't trust me." Wes commented.

"No offense," I began, "but I'm with Julian. If we cancel this game, we might as well shut down our school."

"You'll come up with some other way to show the board member that your school deserves a shot," Wes replied. "Trust me, you are not winning this game. I've heard Max and Kara talking. They're going to play dirty. I don't want anyone to get hurt."

Much to my chagrin, he looked at Autumn pointedly.

"I'm not afraid of them," Autumn sniffed, sticking her A-cups out as she batted her miniscule eyelashes at him.

Wes ignored, or was oblivious to, her advances. "I'm serious. Don't play in this game. It's going to get ugly."

"Ugly like, say, that time you tricked us into getting mayo dumped on our heads?" Julian growled.

"He has a point," I narrowed my eyes at Wes. Even though he unsettled me for some mysterious reason, I still wasn't going to let anyone get away with double-crossing me.

"I got you the info you needed," Wes countered. "I'd say getting a little dirty was a small price to pay for learning Max's plan, wouldn't you? You want to ignore me now? Fine. It's your loss."

Wes turned and stormed off.

"That... could have gone better." I muttered, staring down at my Kate Spade wristlet.

"I think Wes _was _just trying to look out for us," Autumn simpered, _still_ playing up the flirtatious angle. "What should we do?" She held on to Julian's arm as she batted her squinty eyes.

Was Julian high? How could anyone find _that _attractive?

"How is this even a question?" Julian retorted. "We gotta play. If we back out now, we might as well shut down our school ourselves. It'll look like our school can't even participate in a recreational basketball game!"

"You're right," Autumn cooed. "I know you're right. I just... I don't like it." She pouted, making a duckface. Julian looked at her puzzledly.

I interrupted Autumn's pathetic attempt at flirting. "I don't like it either, but we don't have a choice. We've just got to be ready for whatever they throw at us."


	40. The Final Challenge, Part Three

_**The night of the game…**_

"Awesome! Everyone's here!" Payton gushed.

"The stands are packed!" Julian exclaimed.

Autumn interrupted us. "Hey! I just saw Mr. Javellana! He's sitting in the front row! Looks like it's _game time_." At the last two words, she batted her short eyelashes at Julian.

* * *

"Okay, team. This is it. The big game. It all comes down to this." Mia stared the team down.

Autumn squealed. "Ooh, a pep talk! I've seen these in movies. Are you going to tell us to have fun and remember our love of the game?"

I glared at the hipster. Didn't that bitch ever _shut up_?

"Hmm... what does my dad always say to Max?" Mia mused to herself. "Oh yeah... in this house, we're_ winners_. What do we train for? To_ win_. If you want hugs and cuddles, go live with your mother!"

"That was..." Autumn looked stunned.

"Unexpected." I smirked. Mia certainly had her priorities straight.

"Too much?" Mia asked.

"Maybe just a _little_."

"Oh, fine. I guess just go have _fun _or whatever, and if it's not too much trouble, think about trying to win. Y'know, to save our school." Mia looked expectantly at the team.

* * *

Mia and I took our front-row seats while Julian and Autumn took the court, facing off against Max and Kara.

"Well, well," Max smirked, "a football player and a hipster in the starting lineup. So this is what the bottom of the barrel looks like."

"Sounds more like the setup for a dumb joke... 'Little Miss Quirkface and the Dumb Football Guy walk into a basketball game...' I don't know what the punchline is, but it probably involves them making out!" Kara snickered.

"Hey!" Julian growled.

"Don't worry, Kara. I'm sure they'll be too busy awkwardly flirting to actually play ball." Max tapped the top of Kara's head condescendingly, in the same way an adult would do so to a child they thought was beneath them.

"What?" Autumn flushed. "I... I mean..."

Mia came to the team's rescue. "Back off, Max. I'm coaching them. And they're good."

"Mia?" Max cried.

"I should've known you'd really enjoy the whole traitor thing," Kara sniped.

"Save it for the game." Mia replied primly, straightening out her white Ralph Lauren tennis skirt as she strutted back to our seats.

* * *

It wasn't long before Max slammed his shoulder into Julian, knocked him down, and then grabbed the ball and ran over to score an easy layup.

"Did you see that bucket?!" I hissed.

"Ref? Where were you on that one?" Mia demanded. The ref ignored us and continued to chat with Mr. Warren and his buddies. "Ugh."

"Julian, are you okay?" Autumn simpered at him "That looked brutal." She tried to stroke his shoulder.

Julian brushed her off, his concentration on the game. I snickered. "I'm fine. Wes warned us they'd play dirty."

Mia walked over to our players. "Hustle up, team!"

* * *

An hour later, the game was still going. Autumn sunk shot after shot, smirking and bragging every time she did so. But our team was still down by two points.

Julian drove around Max and dunked the ball. "Wow, Max, for a basketball superstar, this game's awful close..." he remarked.

Max glowered at him. "Not for long." He shot Kara a look. She nodded.

"I've got this!" Autumn squealed. She caught the ball and dribbled it down the court... where Kara hooked her foot around Autumn's ankle and shoved her.

"Aaaaaah!" Autumn screeched.

Even with the cacophony from the basketball game and the audience, Autumn's distinctive screech rang out through the gymnasium. All around me, people covered their ears.

Autumn fell, her head slamming against the floor.

I narrowed my eyes. Only a trained onlooker could tell that something was off about her movements… in fact, it was apparent that she could have cushioned her fall better, but didn't. She had intentionally made it seem like her fall was harder than it actually was.

I was outraged. Even in the middle of an important basketball game that would decide the future of our school, Autumn still managed to play her injury for attention.

The ref blew his whistle, and the game stopped.

Julian ran to Autumn's side. "Autumn! Autumn, can you hear me? Autumn, please, open your eyes."

"Wha... what happened? Julian?" She began batting her eyelashes at him.

Even though she'd just had her head conked out, she _still_ managed to flirt with him. Unbelievable.

Julian looked at her tenderly as he began to scoop her up in his arms to carry her to the nurse's office. "You're gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay."

Autumn started to smirk, then quickly stopped as she realized everyone in the gymnasium's eyes were on her.


	41. The Final Challenge, Part Four

_**Back in the locker room...**_

"Autumn's going to get checked out by the school nurse. I think she'll be fine... I hate to say it, but maybe we shouldn't finish the game." Mia sighed.

Wow. Autumn was truly a skilled conniver if even _Mia _could fall for her act, I thought angrily.

"Are you crazy?" Julian demanded. "We can't let them get away with this!"

"Look, I don't want to see anyone else get hurt! You don't understand Max. Maybe it's better if we give it up," Mia replied.

"No! No quitter talk. I'm not going to let them get away with hurting Autumn. We can't let them get away with that!" Julian growled.

_Actually, I _can_…_ I thought. But we still had to win our basketball game.

"Max thinks he can push us around... he's wrong. We're going to beat him at his own game. We're going to go out there and win." I declared.

Julian pumped his fist in the air. "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about! So how about it, Mia? We've got enough time left for one more basket."

"I'm ready. Let's—"

Suddenly, the door to the locker room opened... and Wes strode in.

"I warned you. I told you to stay out of the game. I told you they were going to play dirty." Wes spoke in a low tone, but his words were loaded.

He slammed the locker room door behind him and walked to the center of the room.

"Wes... what are you doing here?" I queried.

Wes's eyes narrowed. "They crossed the line. I'm here to help you take them down."

* * *

"I've been watching them practice. I know their tells," Wes informed us.

"Yeah? So what do we do?" Julian asked.

Wes held a hand out. "Just listen. Kara's terrified of getting hit in her beautiful face—" _He thinks _Cake-Up's_ face is _beautiful? I dug my manicured nails into my Juicy Couture tennis skirt (Mia, Payton and I had elected to dress athletic-chic for the game, which translated into tennis skirts, natch). Wait. Why was I angry about this?

I shook myself out of my thoughts as he continued speaking. "If you fake like you're going to throw the ball at her, she'll break. As for Max, when he's dribbling, he sticks out his tongue every time he's about to cross over from one hand to the other. Just wait for that to happen, and you should be able to steal it from him, easy."

"Any tips on how to avoid getting pummeled?" a jock guy inquired.

"Easy." Wes nodded. "Be the fastest one out there."

"Sure... 'Easy.'" the jock guy muttered sarcastically.

* * *

A few minutes later, the ref whistled, and the game was resumed. Kara inbounded the ball to Max. Max dribbled the ball... and stuck out his tongue. Quickly, the jock guy reached out and snagged the ball from Max.

"Hey!" Max cried.

He lunged for the jock guy, but the jock guy had already spun around and ran down the court. I snickered.

"You won't get past me," Kara sneered.

Ignoring her taunt, the jock guy faked throwing the ball at her face.

"Eek!" Kara screamed. She ducked, covering her face. The jock guy jumped and shot the ball. It sailed gracefully through the air... and sunk perfectly into the basket.

"Yes!" he pumped his fist in the air as his teammates began to carry him on their shoulders.

"Nothing but net!" Julian exclaimed. "We win!"

"Arrgggh!" Max roared. "Unbelievable! This is all your fault, Kara!"

"_My_ fault?" Kara snapped. "_You're_ the one that let them steal the ball, hotshot!"

"I'd say it sounds like the _better_ team won," Mia snickered.

"This isn't over..." Max threatened.

Wes sauntered over to us. "Actually, it is. I heard Mr. Javellana saying he was impressed by their team... they've got his vote."

"Looks like our school's safe for another day." I smirked at Wannabe Stud and Cake-Up.

"Hey, guys, it's Autumn!" Payton cried. "Looks like she's okay!"

Autumn, unsurprisingly, looked exactly the same as she had before the "injury" happened. I rolled my eyes.

"Yep, the nurse says I'll be fine... and it sounds like our school will be too!" She squealed, jumping up and down.

Then as she spotted Wes, she began to bat her infinitesimal eyelashes. "We couldn't have done it without you, Wes. Thank you."

Autumn reached out to Wes, and he stepped back, glancing down. Next to me, Julian watched suspiciously, his fists clenched.

Wes shrugged. "...just doing the right thing is all, no big deal. Unfortunately for me, I don't think Max and Kara are going to see it that way. I get the feeling people at Hearst aren't going to be throwing me any parades..."

I knew when people were trying to manipulate me... but I wouldn't mind if he went to my school. He must have something up his sleeve, and I was going to figure out what it was. "Well... why don't you transfer here?"

"Are you serious?" Julian yawped. "You want to let in Sketchy McSketcherson?!"

"He helped us win the game, Julian. That makes him all right by me." I smiled. "What do you say, Wes?"

Wes met my gaze. "It's a tempting offer, I'll admit. Do you have a place for me?"


	42. The Wild Wes, Part One

"Okay, now _that _is impressive," Wes decreed, looking over the new state-of-the-art slacker hangouts I had commissioned for my school. "You're not just playing around, are you? You're really serious about this whole 'best school ever' thing?"

"I want this school to be a place _anyone _can feel welcome." I winked.

Wes smirked. "Even sketchy, double-crossing guys like me?"

"Even sketchy, double-crossing guys like you," I replied, flipping my hair.

"Let me ask you something," Wes began. "Don't you ever get tired of always playing defense against Hearst?"

"What are you saying?" Julian inquired.

"I'm saying, maybe it's time we took the fight _to them_. And I think I know exactly how we can do that," Wes announced.

"Whatever it is... count me in." I smirked. There was nothing like good-old-fashioned revenge to get me going…

Autumn butted in. "Same here. I trust you, Wes. I always have." She batted her short eyelashes, making it look like a bug had just flew into her eye.

"A little offense, a little payback... I guess I'm in," Julian nodded. "So long as you can promise me we'll make Hearst pay!"

"Oh, by the time we're through with them, Max'll be begging us for mercy!" Wes snickered. _I like the way you think. _"I'll be back... with a plan. In the meantime, set up a place for us to meet."

* * *

I called up Mia, Payton, Julian, and Nishan to meet up with us in my center prep hangout, where I knew we would be undisturbed… and free from spies. Mia and Payton because they were my best friends, Julian for muscle, and Nishan for brainpower.

As Payton, Mia, and I walked there, we were interrupted by a voice. A smarmy, annoying voice that could irritate even the calmest person.

"Where are you going? Can I join!?" Autumn squealed. Mia and I covered our ears at Autumn's grating tone.

"Of course you can!" Payton enthused, before I could say a word. My eyes flashed. Why was Payton still nice to this fashion-challenged_ loser_?

"You all know why I called you here today," Wes began as we all took our seats. "Since your school opened, Hearst High has been trying to shut you down. Hearst High is like a bully. If we don't fight back, they'll just keep messing with us. Now, it's time we take the fight to them."

Julian spoke up first. "Finally! I'm not sure how much help this group is going to be in a brawl, but you can count on me." He flexed his muscles.

"I'm _sure _Wes doesn't mean a physical fight," Payton amended. "We're talking social sabotage, right?"

"Bigger. I'm working on a plan, and I think we just might be able to pull off revealing the biggest school scandal this town has ever seen." Wes declared.

"What's the scandal?" I inquired delightfully. Hearst High was finally going to _get it_, and I'd have a front-row seat to their humiliation.

"We all know Hearst High isn't exactly the fairest place around," Wes started. "The football coach plays Max instead of Julian just because Max's father is the principal."

Julian nodded. "Right."

"But the corruption goes deeper than that... much deeper." Wes continued. "And I've got a plan to expose it."


	43. The Wild Wes, Part Two

"What exactly is this scandal all about?" I asked.

"I'll get to that." Wes replied. "Right now, you all need to listen up. To pull this off, everyone has to follow my instructions."

"Huh? You're here a couple days and suddenly you're our leader?" Julian demanded.

I knew exactly why Julian was so hostile to Wes. He now, for some weird, unexplainable reason, liked Ratty Sneakers, and she was flirting wildly with Wes in front of him. To Julian, Wes posed a threat to his (pathetic in my opinion) crush.

"I'm the guy with the plan, so I guess that makes me the one in charge." Wes retorted.

He spread out a map of Hearst High. "Here's how it's going to go down. We wait for a weekend night, when fewer people are around Hearst High. Then we break into their library..."

Autumn interrupted. "Breaking into their school? Wes, I don't know about this..." she whined. I rolled my eyes. Autumn was _such_ a square.

"It's the only way. Hearst uses a closed computer system. That means we need to get Nishan into the school so he can hack into the system on-site," Wes asserted.

Nishan gulped. "On-site? Um, just so we're clear, I'm much more of a 'very safe, very remote location' kind of guy..."

"I do this kind of thing all the time. We just have to keep an eye on the clock. Here, look at the map. We'll have a solid minute and a half to run the distance between their library and the edge of their campus." Wes declared.

"A minute and a half?!" Nishan cried. "That's crazy! What's your backup plan if I can't keep up? Juvenile hall and a permanent record? Visits every other weekend?"

Payton's phone beeped, and she giggled as she read a new text message.

"Payton, are you paying attention?" I looked at her expectantly.

Payton looked up, as if in a trance. "Huh? Oh... sorry! It's just, I've got this big date planned... and I'm sooo excited about it! I just can't stop texting about it. You guys understand, right?"

"Ooh, Ezra finally asked you out?" Mia enthused. "I knew he'd come around."

Wes rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah, of course. A date. That's much more important than the elaborate and dangerous heist we're all working on."

"I _feel _like you're being sarcastic..." Payton murmured, "but what you're saying makes perfect sense..."

Wes's gray eyes narrowed. "Does no one here realize that this is serious? The principal and Max have gotten away with their crimes for too long. We've got to take those scumbags down!"

"Hey!" Mia glared at him. "I don't agree with what they're doing, but they're still my _family_! You can't talk about them like that!"

"Well, this meeting is off to a great start, Wes. Why did I ever doubt you? Oh, right, because you're a terrible leader..." Julian hissed.

Everyone began to talk at once about different problems with the plan... until Wes grabbed the map off the table.

"Okay. We gave it a shot, but this whole team thing isn't going to work. Thanks for playing, everyone. But I'm out of here."

And with that, he turned and stalked away.

Julian was the first to speak up. "I knew a loner like Wes couldn't just come in here and pull off leading a team. What a waste of time."

I ignored him. "Autumn? Maybe you could go talk to him?" I placed my hands on my hips, staring down the squinty-eyed hipster. She was the one who knew him the longest.

"I... I hate to say it, but maybe it's for the best. Wes has never been a team player, much less a leader," Autumn sniffed, then began to bat her minuscule eyelashes at Julian. The girl _seriously_ needed mascara.

"I don't think you really mean that..." I threatened.

"I mean, look at what just happened!" Autumn screeched. "Things got tough... and he ran. Do we really want to risk building a plan around him when we can't count on him to be there?" She walked closer to Julian. "I know I can count on _you_," she said in a breathy voice, trying to sound seductive and failing epically.

I glared at the nonsensical hipster. "Look, we need Wes. He might not be the easiest person to deal with... but he's got all the information. I'll go talk to him."


	44. The Wild Wes, Part Three

"Hey! Wes! Wait up." My Louboutins practically flew off the pavement as I ran to catch up with him.

Wes crossed his arms. "What do you want?"

Now that I was facing him, I saw that even while I was wearing six-inch pumps, Wes still towered over me. Damn, he was tall…

"I wanted to talk to you about that meeting. We can still pull this off." I declared.

"Very optimistic of you, Sunshine, but like I said, we gave the whole team thing a shot. I'll figure out a way to take down Hearst on my own," Wes bluffed.

_Sunshine?_ I blushed, then got back to the point. "We both know that if you could've done it on your own, you would've done it already. You came to us because you need help."

Wes looked down at his Vans, not saying a word. _Gotcha. _Calling out people on their bluffs was a special talent of mine that I had inherited from my ruthless tycoon father.

"Just talk to me. I know we can figure something out." I widened my eyes and laid a hand on his gray-sleeved arm, speaking in a soft, consoling tone.

"Yeah? Well, talk while you walk. I've got something to take care of at my place." He shook me off, heading to my school's main entrance/exit.

A jolt of excitement hit me. Was I really going to see the elusive Wes's house? Did that mean anything? Had _Autumn _been there already? I shook the last thought out of my head. That was _not _something I wanted to be thinking about.

We walked through the woods near my school until Wes reached a run-down trailer with a half-blind bulldog slouched in front of it. He pet the dog on the head as he poured out food into the dog's bowl.

"Good boy... good boy..." Wes praised.

"I have a dog too," I volunteered. "Her name's Miu Miu. She's a Pomeranian."

Wes raised his eyebrows. "Miu Miu? Like Miuccia Prada?"

"You know who she is?" I squealed.

"Sometimes, information like that comes in handy for my… plans," Wes murmured cryptically. _A guy who knows his designers. Nice!_

He turned back to me. "Now, where were we? You were just about to convince me to go back to your ragtag group of misfits and figure out a way to get them to actually pull off my daring plan."

Misfits_? Excuse moi?_ _The only _misfit _in _my_ group is Autumn_.

I rolled my Lancôme-mascaraed eyes. "Yeah, that sounds about right..."

Wes nodded. "Okay. Give me your best shot. Why should I step up to the plate and take one for the team and all that?"

"Now you're just saying sports metaphors," I raised a plucked-by-Anastasia eyebrow, awaiting his next blatant attempt at manipulation.

"Look, my point is that I don't think your buddies have what it takes to pull this caper off... so why should I put in that kind of effort?" Wes tried pulling the strings again.

I knew he wanted to pull this off. I knew he needed us to pull this off. Now how do I talk a fellow manipulator into doing what we both want to do?

"You know what?" I began. "You're right. There's no way you could pull off leading a group. I mean, I _thought _you were a master at manipulating people… but I guess some things are beyond even the great Wes," I shrugged.

Wes scowled. "Reverse psychology, huh? Pretty obvious…" _Yeah, and so are your manipulation techniques on me._ "But I like that you're trying. Kind of a rookie way to go about it, but your head's in the right place."

And that was the second I knew he had fallen for it. Wes thought I was a good, innocent girl who had no idea how to manipulate… he had no idea how wrong he was. And if things go my way, he never will...


	45. The Wild Wes, Part Four

"So, where do we start? You know these people. How do we get everyone back on track?" Wes looked at me, as if I had all the answers.

I spoke methodically like I had just thought things out at this moment when in actuality, I had been devising my plan during the walk here.

"We talk to everyone, one at a time. We help them sort through what's standing in their way. Let's start with Julian. Everyone looks up to him. Until the two of you are getting along, we don't be able to get the team working together."

* * *

_**Later that day...**_

"You want to get the team to pull together? You need leadership." Julian declared.

I had buttered him up, talking Wes up so he'd at least give him a chance. Even with his new crush on Autumn, he, like every other student at my school, would do anything for me.

"And you're the guy that's going to teach me all that?" Wes replied.

Julian shook his head. "Not me. For a crash course in leadership, you're gonna need to learn straight from the professionals! How about we go to an NFL game?" Uh-oh. I saw the look in Julian's eyes, and I had a feeling I would soon be maxing out my black AmEx. "You can learn a lot about leadership watching a pro team play. How about it? Think you can spring for some tickets to a game?"

Bam. And there it was. Everyone knew I was loaded and had connections, so they demanded that I pay for everything. Sure, it was unintentional, but was everyone that lacking in manners? They could at least _pretend_ that they were going to pay for themselves. I didn't mind treating everyone if they didn't demand and order me to do so. I bit my lip, holding back a sigh as I pulled out my iPhone to book the tickets.

* * *

_**At the football game...**_

"See how the quarterback is calling all the plays?" Julian began.

Wes nodded. "Yeah, he's just shouting orders, and everyone listens to him. What's that supposed to teach me? To be louder?"

"I don't think that's the message here." I snickered.

"She's right." Julian agreed. "They're listening 'cause they trust him. They've practiced together. He knows them. He knows what they can do. And more than that... they know _him_."

"I think I see what you're getting at. I need to get to know my team, and they need to get to know me. That's the big moral, right? I can pull that off." Wes assented.

"Yeah? Well, maybe you're not a hopeless case after all..." Julian replied.

I smiled. "Great! So, Julian, you'll help us take down Hearst High?"

"I'm in... but do we even have a team?" Julian inquired. "Last I checked, everyone else was out. Not to mention that if Mia doesn't agree to this, she can tell her family and blow the whole thing."

"Yeah, we do need to talk to her... but I haven't seen her around. Do you think she's avoiding us?" I frowned. Since she'd transferred to my school, Mia had become my best friend, and it was weird that I hadn't talked to her in days.

"Maybe..." Wes mused, "…but she's got cheerleading practice now. We can talk to her there. She won't be able to get away."

I snickered. "I like the way you think."


	46. The Wild Wes, Part Five

"Mia is going to kill me for letting you guys in here, isn't she?" a cheerleader girl timidly asked.

"She'll thank you for it," Wes replied. "Some day."

"Thanks for the assist," I added. "We'll take it from here." I smirked.

* * *

"What is this?! You think you can sneak into our cheerleading practice?" Mia roared.

"Not exactly air-tight security around here..." Wes snickered.

"Look, I told you earlier that I don't want to be part of your plan to take down my dad and brother. And you know what's changed? Nothing." Mia crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Just hear me out." I interrupted them before things would escalate into a fight. "_We're_ your family now. The people who care about you… the ones who always have your back… _that's _who your family is. And that's _us_. You know we're always here for you."

"That's… that's really sweet. I do appreciate you guys. In most ways, you're way more of a family to me than they ever were," Mia divulged. "But my dad and brother _are _a big part of my life."

"I'm not saying I _agree _with what my dad's doing," she continued. "I'm just saying that it's complicated. I'm not exactly ready to wage an all-out war against my family."

"I get it. Morality isn't black and white. And we're not going to set out to hurt them. And I'm not going to ask you to do anything you're not comfortable with. But we do need to stop them." Wes declared.

"We just want to make things fair for everyone," I lied. I simply wanted to get my revenge on Wannabe Stud, Cake-Up, and their shitty school… but telling Mia I wanted to ruin her brother's life obviously wasn't the way to get her on my team.

"I know. I... I guess I've always known it would come to this. And you're right. I'm with you. Thanks for sneaking into cheerleading practice to talk to me. I know I've been avoiding you two, but I actually feel a lot better after that talk..." Mia admitted.

"Heh. Glad we could help." I smirked, my job here done.

"Okay, okay. Now get out of my gym!" Mia barked at Wes. "I have a practice to finish!"

* * *

"That's another one ready to rejoin the team!" I smiled, nudging Wes.

Wes nodded. "Yeah... but don't get cocky. None of this is going to matter if we can't figure out a way to get Nishan onboard. No one else can hack into the computer system at Hearst High."

"But there's no way he'll come with us if he can't run fast enough to keep up with the group. He's too worried about getting caught. Maybe we could have him train with a jock?" I mused.

"Here's the thing. I've run the numbers. I know Nishan can run fast enough to get in and out of Hearst High's campus in a minute and a half..." Wes informed me. "He just doesn't _think _he can."

"Then it's a question of getting Nishan to believe in himself?" I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah... I've got an idea." Wes responded. "If we can give Nishan some motivation to run, we can time him and show him how fast he really moves."

"And when you say 'motivation'..." I snickered.

"I mean we're going to make him fear for his life." Wes grinned.


	47. The Wild Wes, Part Six

"Okay, so I've called you here today because we're going to play a little scene with our friend Nishan." Wes announced to our group, which had met up in the theater."We're going to make him think that his worst fear has come to life: a were-panther with robot legs." He grinned.

"How do you know that's Nishan's worst fear?" one of my minions, a prep girl, inquired as she filed her nails.

"Oh, I make it a point to know." Wes smirked. "Now, first we'll need some creepy monster makeup..."

"I can take care of that!" the prep girl volunteered.

"And we'll need someone to act like said were-panther." Wes nodded to an actor guy, who'd been Julian's understudy for _Romeo and Juliet_. He would have gotten the lead too, if high school politics hadn't played a role in the casting. Julian had gotten the lead because at that moment, he was the most popular guy in school.

"What's my motivation?" the actor guy inquired.

"Look, you're playing a were-panther, not King Lear. Your motivation is you want to eat someone. Don't over think it." Wes retorted.

* * *

_**Fifteen minutes later…**_

"There, you're ready!" the prep girl declared, admiring her handiwork.

She'd done an amazing job on the special effects makeup. Makeup was her hobby, to the point where she was good enough to take summer classes with Pat McGrath, which was why she was the person who usually did makeup during my pranks.

We walked out of the theater.

"Nishan's typing over there in the quad. Let's go!" I motioned to my entourage.

A filmmaker guy took out his video camera and began recording for me, so I could upload the prank vid to YouTube and laugh at it with my coterie later during sleepovers.

As Nishan typed away on his laptop, the actor guy snuck up behind him and let out a deafening _roar_.

"No! That's impossible! A were-panther with robot legs?!" Nishan exclaimed. "I must be dreaming. I'm dreaming, right? Then why can't I fly? And why am I wearing pants? Oh no. Oh no. This is real."

The actor guy roared again, and Nishan took off running. After he sprinted to the end of the school, we met him there as Wes clicked his stopwatch.

"And done!" Wes declared.

"Wes! Run!" Nishan gasped, his hands over his knees as he nearly collapsed from the exertion. "There's a were-panther after me, and it's got robot-legs! It's nature's ultimate vengeance against scientists for playing God!"

He turned around just as the actor guy wiped off his makeup.

Nishan looked bewildered. "What's going on?"

"Just a little experiment." Wes causally replied. "Take a look at this stopwatch."

"A minute and a half?" Nishan inquired. "I don't get it."

"That's the amount of time it took you to sprint across the school campus." Wes informed him. "If you can do that here, no way you'll have trouble doing the same thing at Hearst High."

Nishan's eyes widened. "I did that? On these scrawny legs? Well, sir, you have proven me the fool."

"So does that mean you'll help with the heist?" I crossed my arms and looked at him expectantly.

"I'm in!" Nishan asserted.

I had already moved on to the next person, as I knew everyone would eventually succumb to me… either because of adoration or coercion, I didn't really care. "Next, we'd better talk to Payton. Her heart's in the right place, but she's just too distracted thinking about that date."

"The solution is obvious, isn't it? Get her to move up her date." Nishan suggested.

A few minutes later, Wes and I found Payton sitting on a park bench, her eyes glued to her phone screen, her thumbs rapidly typing out messages.

"Payton, you've got to move up your date." Wes insisted.

Payton gasped. "What? No way! I've been planning it all week."

I raised an eyebrow. "Come on. You know you won't be able to focus as long as you're still thinking about that date. While we've been talking to you, you've checked your phone for texts five times!" I narrowed my eyes.

Payton sighed. "Okay, fine, you have a point. I'll see what I can do."

* * *

The next day, Payton approached Wes and I as we plotted at a picnic table. "I hate to admit it, but you guys were right. I guess I didn't realize how much I was looking forward to that date!"

"So your head's in the game now?" Wes asked.

Payton nodded. "You have my _complete _focus."


	48. The Wild Wes, Part Seven

_**Later that day…**_

Payton was filling me in on her date with Ezra when I felt a sharp tap on my shoulder, followed by a series of more taps. _Tap tap tap._

"Ouch! What the hell?" I cried out.

"Hey, guys?" Autumn spoke up timidly. "Can we talk for a second?"

"Something _wrong_?" I narrowed my eyes at Autumn, making it perfectly obvious that _she_ was what was wrong.

"I'm glad everyone is working together, but I... I'm not sure I'm ready for this," Autumn simpered. "Look, Wes and I go way back," she bragged, "but not _all_ of that's been good. I just don't feel like we can count on him to be there when we need him!" She stomped her foot and then crossed her arms, pouting like a toddler who didn't want to go to nap time.

"Aww... Autumn, you didn't see how Wes was after you hurt your ankle." Payton responded. "I'm a pretty good judge of character, and I can say that guy really cares about you."

I involuntarily glowered.

Autumn tapped her zit-infested chin. "Maybe..."

I butted in. "I think the two of you just need some time to talk." Autumn had intruded her way into our heist group, and since she already knew about the plan, if I kicked her out she would squeal on us to the cops. She was _such _a square.

"And not like a serious 'we need to talk' talk. You two need to lighten up! It's just high school," Payton added. "Ohmigosh, this calls for a party! Parties always bring people together!"

Autumn frowned. "I don't know..."

"Come on! What could it hurt? I've been meaning to throw a party anyway," Payton replied. "And I bet Wes is totally fun at parties. Oooh, I'll go get Wes, and the two of us will get this party started! See you guys there!"

* * *

_**Later, at Party Central…**_

Autumn batted her tiny eyelashes at Wes. "You know... that was actually fun. We haven't done something like _that_ in a long time." She winked at Wes suggestively while Julian glowered from the refreshment table. Julian had planned to ask Autumn out (I _know_. Why he would like that ugly _freak_ is a total mystery) at Payton's next party, yet the whole dance, Autumn had been glued to Wes's side.

I pulled a small pink flask out of my Pucci handbag, poured some into my red Solo cup, and offered some to Julian.

Julian grabbed the flask from me, pouring the remaining contents into his cup of soda and chugging it, all the while never taking his eyes off Wes and Autumn. From where we were standing, Julian and I could hear everything they were saying.

"I know I haven't seen you smile like that in a long time." Wes replied. "At least... not at me."

"I always have fun with you." Autumn attempted a flirtatious smile, but in actuality she looked like she was gritting her teeth.

"Then what's wrong?" Wes asked. "I know you've been avoiding me."

"I just don't always agree with how you solve your problems." Autumn pouted. "Like when you transferred to Hearst High... I thought you were coming there for _me_. But then you started getting all buddy-buddy with Max and Kara." She hissed, her squinty eyes narrowing into even tinier slits. "I felt like you betrayed me. You turned on me when everyone was against me." She sniffed, making an annoying _humph_ sound.

"I had to get in with them!" Wes retorted. "I had to figure out the system at Hearst. They were the fastest way to do that."

"I get it. It was all part of some scheme. But you didn't exactly tell me that." Autumn snapped. "I know you were solving the problem _your _ way, but it still hurt to see you with them."

_Oh, and Wes isn't allowed to be friends with other people? _I rolled my eyes.

Sadly, it looked like Autumn's whining worked as Wes started to look remorseful. "Autumn... haven't you ever heard that you need to keep your friends close, but your enemies closer? Well, that was a mistake. I didn't keep you close enough. You're the only friend I've got. Guess I forgot what it was like."

Autumn smiled wickedly. "Wes..."

"If you're looking for the guy that's going to be at your side at a pep rally or the big Homecoming Dance, you can keep looking... I'm never going to be that guy. But if you can settle for someone lurking in the shadows... someone who wants to keep you safe... then here I am. I'll always be on your side, Autumn." Wes declared.

Autumn threw her arms around Wes in a quick, awkward hug.

Julian downed the rest of his drink, and so did I.

"I don't always understand you, Wes. And I don't agree with how you do things," she whined. "But I'm with you." She stuck her flat chest out, batting her minuscule eyelashes for what seemed like fifty times per minute.

I couldn't take the _Ugly-Loser-Flirting-With-And-Leading-Two-Guys-On _show anymore, so I strode to where Autumn was flirting with Wes and interrupted.

"So what now?" I barked. "We give that big meeting another try?"

Wes nodded. "Sure. I'll start making some calls..." He pulled his cell phone out, and the moment between him and Autumn was lost. Autumn glowered at the ground, stomping her foot yet again… before remembering that Julian was watching. Autumn ran over to Julian, throwing her arms around him in a hug.

_Wasn't she _just _hugging another guy less than a minute ago? _I narrowed my eyes at the fashion disaster. It looked like Julian and Ratty Sneakers were well on their way to becoming an official couple…

* * *

_**Later, at the Prep hangout…**_

"Let's try this again. Is everyone ready to listen?" Wes faced the room.

Julian nodded. "I'm with you."

Payton switched her phone to silent and waved it in front of Wes. "Zero distractions over here!"

"I've been convinced that I can perform the necessary physical activities," Nishan asserted.

"And you know _I'm_ in." Autumn batted her eyelashes at Wes. I glared at her. Wasn't she practically with Julian?

"Then let's hear this plan." I announced.

Wes laid out a map of Hearst High. "So, as I was saying last time... if we can get into the Hearst High computer system, we're golden. And that means getting into the school. But we'll have to be fast. We'll have maybe ten minutes before we're detected, tops."

"Which means I'll need to know exactly what we're looking for. Um. Which is...?" Nishan inquired.

"Nishan _does _raise a good point. You still haven't told us what this is all about. What's the big scandal that we're going to reveal?" I smiled, thinking of all the humiliation Hearst High would go through. It's about time…

"I'll get to that." Wes assured. "But first, there's still one missing piece in this puzzle... we're going to need one last person. Sakura."

Nishan's eyes bulged. "Sakura?! Why her? What does she have to do with this?"

"Whether or not she knows it, she's got the information that we need." Wes replied.

"So all we need now... is to recruit Sakura to our school?" I queried.

"You got it. And I've got a plan for it. I'll explain..." Wes began.


End file.
